My saving grace
by Take1risk
Summary: What if Lucas needed saving? Leyton!
1. Chapter 1

**Please review! Its kind of a bad start….but it gets better**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't.**

**My Saving Grace**

-This is on the night of the 'I hate you' ……..was a one shot I decided to make it into a real story.

Everything that happens, happens for a reason.

Peyton brought Lucas home from the bar. She kissed him on the cheek and started to walk towards the door. As she was about to grab the door handle the love of her life spoke.

"Peyton…." He started. She turned around, with a smile on her face. "I hate you.."

"what?" she gasped, her smile quickly went away. Tears started to develop in her eyes.

"I hate you…." He sat up to look her in the eyes. "…..because I'm still in love with you."

"Lucas your drunk." She was about to say more but he stopped her.

"wait I need to say this." He stood up and looked deep into her eyes. "I just wanted you to say yes so bad. My pride took over me and I hid with Lindsey. When I said 'I do' I thought that if I married Lindsey maybe my feelings for you would go away. But they haven't." he got tears in his eyes and he moved closer. Peyton also had tears in her eyes. "the day I left you in the hotel was the biggest mistake of my life, I wish I could take it back. You're still the person I want next to me when all my dreams come true. You're the first person I think about when I wake up and the last person I think about when I go to sleep. I still love you, I always have. I just wish you would believe me when I say that I don't hate you, I love you."

He was tired of holding the tears back so he let them fall. He could barely stand, he backed up against the wall and slid down to sit. He put his head in his hands and just started to cry.

Peyton couldn't believe what he just said, she had been waiting to hear those words for 3 years. She wasn't sure to believe him or not, but she wanted Lucas back so bad. She looked down at him, and sensed right away that he was telling the truth. She was hesitant at first but then thought to herself "If I want to be happy, I have to take chances right." She smiled and knelt down next to Lucas. She picked up his face and took it in both her hands and looked him straight in his teary blue eyes.

"I love you, Lucas Scott" she said and she kissed him softly yet passionately on the lips. She sat next to him on the wall and held him for a change.

"It's about time someone saved you." She said with a smile.

He looked up to her face and gave her a smile that she hadn't seen in years. He kissed her on the forehead tenderly and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"True love" she started.

"always." He finished.

-The next morning Lucas woke up in his bed alone……

He sat up and reached next to him, the spot next to him was empty. His head jolted up, he winced at the pounding head ache he had from his hang over. He quickly put his physical feelings aside.

"peyton?" he sighed, was it a dream or did she regret last night and leave? He sighed in sadness and tears started to develop in his eyes. Just as he was about to put his head down Peyton came 

through is bedroom door. She was smiling brightly and holding some food. She noticed his tears and her heart broke for him. She set the food down and sat next to him.

"I thought you left." He said sighing in relief that she was there.

She smiled slightly and kissed him on the forehead. "I'm not going to disappear that easily." She brought her hands up to his face and whipped his tears away. "its ok, I'm not going anywhere." He pulled her into his strong arms and held onto her. He hugged her so tightly it was almost as if this was the last time he would ever hold her. She smiled at this.

She pulled away and got off the bed. "I brought some breakfast." She held up the food.

He smiled, he liked the thought of her taking care of him. He stood up and helped her take the food to the kitchen.

They ate in silence. A few minutes later Peyton broke the silence.

"I've been trying to avoid talking about it but…..we need to talk about us." She paused and looked at his confused face. "it just happened so quickly, you know?"

He nodded. "what is there that we need to talk about?" he asked.

"well first of all, is this what you really want, because if this is just a little game that you are playing it needs to stop now. Because I really want this, but if you aren't in this for the long shot, then I need to leave. I don't want to have my hopes up, then crushed….." she started to ramble. He put a finger up to her lips and laughed a little.

"this is real Peyton, I don't want to lose you again." He kissed her on the cheek.

She smiled "good, but I think we should take it slow." She said with a little hesitation not sure of how he would react.

"whatever I need to do, I'll do it. As long as in the end I get to hold you in my arms and you will be mine forever." He smiled.

She leaned in and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips. "you can bet on that."

As they finished their breakfast they began to talk again. And for the first time in about 3 years, Peyton and Lucas were smiling like they used too.

-Peyton looked at her watch.

"Crap! I have to meet Brooke at TRIC soon, she needs some help with some new sketches or something." She said sadly.

His smile quickly turned to a frown.

"don't worry, I will see you later?" she asks.

"you can count on that." He got up and walked her to the door.

"bye Luke."

"bye babe." His eyes widened. "I'm sorry that was probably way to soon, it just came out."

She laughed. "Its ok, it has a nice ring to it." She gave him one last kiss and walked out the door.

Lucas went to take a shower.

Nathan and Jamie walk into Lucas' house. Lucas walks out of the shower.

"Luke?" Nathan asked surprised.

"Hey Nate, hey buddy." He said picking up Jamie.

"hey uncle Lucas!" Jamie shouted with excitement as he ran into Lucas' arms.

"wow, your up early for you know…" said Nathan.

"yea, I don't know I just feel really good." HE couldn't stop smiling. Nathan even noticed this.

"whats got you all happy? Did Lindsey call?"

Lucas shook his head vigorously. "no way man, I think I have been over Lindsey for a while, just didn't realize it."

"then whats got you all happy?" asked Nathan with a little laugh.

"Me and Peyton got back together." Nathan's jaw dropped.

"are you serious?" Lucas just glared at him. Nathan pulled his brother in for a hug. "It's about time, man. I'm happy for you guys."

"well now that all this stuff is taken care of, can we go play some basketball?" asked Jamie impatiently.

Nathan and Lucas laughed. "that sounds like a great plan little man." Said Lucas.

"yea and while we are out we can catch a tan." Said Nathan. No one laughed.

"enough rhyming, lets just go to the rivercourt." Said Jamie walking out the door.

Lucas couldn't help but laugh. "shot down by a little kid." He patted his younger brother on the back. "lets go."

They walked out the door and headed to the River court.

Peyton has just arrived to TRIC……

She is smiling and she skips through the door. Brooke was sitting at a table waiting for her, she was holding Angie.

"whoa, somebody is extra happy today." Brooke laughed "did you get laid last night?"

Peyton slapped her on the arm.

"what? What else could possibly make you this happy except me and this cute little girl." She tickled Angie and she giggled.

"well first, lots of things can make me happy besides you." Peyton said. Brooke stuck her tongue out. "second, I found out some good news last night!" Peyton stared of into the sky…

There was a long pause.

"well are you going to tell me what it is or what?!" Brooke finally let out.

Peyton smiled mischievously. "maybe I will, maybe I wont."

"oh come on! You have to tell me please." Brooke pleaded.

"ok I guess I'll tell you. Me and Lucas kind of got back together last night." She smiled.

Brooke's eyes widened and she set Angie down and gave Peyton a hug. "Peyton that's great!" Brooke didn't hear a response. "that's great right."

Peyton snapped back to reality. "yes, yes of course it's great. I just cant believe it's finally happening."

"well I know you guys love each other, but just be careful ok." Said Brooke rubbing her friends arm.

"I will. So back to what I am here for." Said Peyton.

"Oh well I was just looking for another design for clothes over bros. Like something to make the logo a little more fun." Said Brooke looking at the clothes over bros logo.

Peyton took the sketch pad and grabbed a pencil.

It had been a couple minutes, Peyton had done some erasing and more drawing.

Brooke couldn't take it anymore. "what are you drawing." She tried to grab the sketch pad but Peyton pulled it away.

"I'm almost done just wait." Peyton drew one more thing. "there, done." She handed the sketch pad to Brooke. Brooke examined it. On it was a heart with angels wings coming off of it almost as if it was flying. In the center of the heart was the normal clothes over bros sign.

"Peyton…." Brooke started. But Peyton cut in.

"I know its simple, but I think it will work."

Brooke shook her head. "Peyton this is really good, I like it. Who cares how simple it is, it looks great." Brooke jumped after Peyton and gave her a big hug. "thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-At the River court…..

Nathan, Lucas, Skills and Jamie are playing basketball.

"so you and P. sawyer finally got it into your little heads that you two are meant for eachother." Said Skills

Lucas laughed. "yea basically."

"well good thing you came to your senses because I was about to sweep her off her feet." Skills said and he took a shot.

"yea, like Peyton would go for you." Said Jamie.

Skills was about to take another shot but then paused and gave a shocking look to Jamie. Nathan and Lucas burst into laughter.

"haha, you know Jamie has a point." Says Nathan

Skills punches Nathan in the arm.

"hey don't blame me, you're the one that he hangs out with all the time. It's your own fault, you're the one that taught him to say stuff like that." Said Nathan.

Skills turned away to hide his look of shame.

"anyways back to before." Starts Skills. "you better not hurt her this time Luke, I'm not kidding. Don't screw this up."

"I'm not going to, I'm not going down that path again. I finally realized what I want and it's to be with Peyton." Lucas said as he took a shot and sank it.

"that's great, man." Said Nathan.

They took some more shots and played with Jamie. A little bit later….A car pulls up and a man and a little girl about 6 years old walks out.

"hey guys!" yells the man as he picks up the little girl and starts to walk over.

They all look up.

Nathan immediately looks to Lucas to see his reaction. Lucas gives a worried look back to Nathan.

"Hey jake." Says Skills

Jake finally reaches them.

"what are you doing back?" asks Nathan, knowing Lucas was going to ask the same question.

"I just missed this place, and all you guys." He said and he put Jenny down.

Lucas was trying to avoid talking about why Jake was back.

"Jenny's gotten big." He said.

"yea, she really has, it seems just yesterday I was back in Tree Hill when she was a baby." He kisses Jenny on the top of her head.

"so how long you here for?" asks Skills.

"I don't really know, it depends I guess." Jake says walking up and taking the ball from Lucas.

Jake takes a shot and sinks it. He smiles.

-Lucas went back to his house to shower.

He had so many thoughts going through his head. "what is Jake back for? Where does this leave me and Peyton? Is Jake going to make a move on her?" he thought

He quickly got out of the shower and went to TRIC to see Peyton. He was about to drive into the parking lot but then saw Jake's car there. He quickly turned out and started to drive somewhere else.

Meanwhile in TRIC…

"Jake!" Peyton screamed and she rushed to give him a big hug. "what are you doing here?"

"I just missed home I guess, and all my friends." He smiled then a little girl running behind him.

"daddy." She tugged on his shirt.

"oh, you remember Jenny? She sure remembers you." Jake put a hand on Peyton's shoulder.

"how could I forget little Jenny." Said Peyton, she bent down and gave Jenny a hug.

"well we just wanted to say hi, but we have to go see my parents now." Said Jake sadly.

"oh alright, see you later I guess." Said Peyton.

Back to Lucas…..

He pulled his car into a familiar place and walked a little ways till he stopped.

"hey Keith" he started "I finally stopped being a stubborn little a and got Peyton back. But now I don't know what to do. Jake came back and I don't know what he is here for. I mean I love Peyton, and I think she loves me, but I guess I'm just a little scared." He finished and then a leaf fell from a tree, Lucas' eyes caught it and the leaf blew and landed right on Peyton's mom's grave.

Lucas laughed to himself. "alright Keith." Lucas got up and walked to her grave. He remembered the time when Peyton first took him to see her mom, when they were together. Peyton told her mom how happy she was now, and that was because of him. He smiled

"thanks Mrs. Sawyer." He got up and walked back to his car.

At TRIC……

Peyton looked over to Brooke. Brooke had this sly look on her face.

"what?" asked Peyton.

"hmm I wonder why he is really back." Said Brooke.

"Brooke shut up. Even if that is why, nothing is going to happen. I love Lucas."

"I know you do. Well anyways, I have to go the doctor's with Angie." Brooke picked up Angie and walked out.

Peyton sat there. She was so happy when she found out Jake was back. "who do I love more. I mean I love Lucas so much. But I also care about and love Jake. Jake never hurt me, what if Lucas hurts me again?" she thought to herself.

-Lucas drove to TRIC but Peyton was nowhere to be found. He decided to drive back to her house. On the way there was a store, flowers were for sale. He walked up and bought some. He arrived at Peyton's house and walked up to the door. It was open so he just walked in.

"Peyton!" he yelled, no answer. That was probably due to the loud music blasting in Peyton's room. He walked to her room and opened up the door. His jaw dropped.

Right when he walked in he saw Jake kissing Peyton. He dropped the flowers and ran to pull him off.

"you son of a BI" Lucas screamed. He pulled Jake of and started to punch him.

"Lucas stop!" Peyton screamed and grabbed him to pull him off. Lucas didn't stop or hear Peyton.

"STOP" she screamed again and pushed Lucas off of Jake, this sent Lucas crashing into her desk. Peyton leaned down to help Jake up.

Lucas looked up at Peyton with sad eyes.

"Lucas…." She started. Tears were streaming down his face and he ran out.

"let him go." Said Jake. He lifted up Peyton's chin "I want you so bad Peyton, please just give me a chance." Peyton just nodded.

Lucas furiously yet broken heartedly drove back to his house. He pulled into the driveway and went straight for his room. He packed 2 suitcases full of things along with a backpack. Nathan happened to be driving up to his house at this time.

"hey man what…" he started then noticed Lucas' face. "what happened?" asked Nathan.

"Jake." You could hardly hear it Lucas spoke so softly. He zipped up his last bag.

"where are you going?" asked Nathan.

"wherever the world takes me." Lucas said grabbing his bags and heading for the door.

"what?!" Nathan shouted. "dude we can figure this out, you haven't even talked to them yet. Maybe its not what you think." He tried to grab Lucas' bag.

Lucas pulled away.

"the way that she looked at me and was helping Jake said it all Nate." Tears started to fall again. "its my own fault. If you remember 3 years ago I made the biggest mistake of my life." He walked out the door to his car.

"please don't leave, I need you here. You cant run everytime there is a problem Luke." Nate said trying to comfort Lucas to make him stay.

"I'm only running once." He paused to look his younger brother in the face. "and I'm not coming back."

Nathan became confused and angered. "you have so many people that care and love you here! You cant just leave us here, that's not fair to us." Screamed Nathan. "you're my best friend, someone I need to help me in life, you cant just leave me. What about Jamie and Haley. Jamie loves you and Haley loves you." He was about to say more but got cut off.

"and I love them, but if I stay here and see 'them' together, it will be hell for all of us." Lucas closed the trunk and went to the drivers seat.

"Luke please don't leave, we can get through this." Nathan said desperately.

"I'm sorry Nate. I love you and tell everyone I love them." With that Lucas pulled out of the driveway and was gone.

-Nathan was in his car driving and he dialed Peyton's number.

"hello?" peyton answers her phone.

"Peyton what happened?" asked Nathan

"Nate…." She gets interrupted. But she also remembers what happened.

FLASHBACK

"hi Peyton" Jake walks in to her bedroom.

"Hey Jake, what are you doing here?" she asks, smiling brightly.

"to tell you the real reason why I'm back." He says

Peyton just sits on her bed confused.

"I came back for you.." he begins. "Peyton all these years I've been away I can only think of you. I have tried to be with other girls but they only remind me of you. Peyton I want you back so bad, I love you." He gets closer and kisses her. That is when Lucas walks in.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Peyton I thought this is what you wanted, I thought you wanted Lucas. He finally came to his senses and opened up again. I can't force you to go back to him but Peyton he loves you. Sure he can be an a but at the heart you know what kind of guy he is." Nate said firmly.

"people always leave, Nate." Peyton said with no emotion.

"yea but your forgetting one thing." Nathan shoots back.

"what?"

"Lucas always comes back." There was silence until Nathan spoke again. Peyton couldn't help but think Nathan is right, but still she was scared. "but he just packed up and I don't know where he is going. He is leaving for you, because he cant be with you and because he wants you to be happy." He said. "Peyton he told me to tell you he is sorry for how much of an a he was being. I hope you are happy with whoever you are with right now." Nathan finished sincerely. There was silence again.

"Oh my God." Nathan broke the silence once again. He hung up the phone and pulled his car over.

He pulled over and ran over to his destination. Lucas' car was wrapped around a light pole.

**A/N: ok I know Lucas over reacted a little bit, but I already had this story written out and the people from the cw liked it, so I thought I would keep it. Thanks for the reviews and reading my story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Nathan ran up to see people watching from all over. He spotted Jake, he was trying to get to the car to pull Lucas out. Nathan quickly ran up and tried to help, they couldn't get him out.

FLASHBACK

Lucas swerved and another car hit him, he then was bashed into a light post. The car went up in flames and Lucas was left unconscious.

END FLASHBACK

"Lucas!" Nathan screamed, frustrated he couldn't get to his brother. "Lucas! Please answer me!"

Men with hoses approached.

"I need everyone to move away!" the man with the hose shouted. He may have seemed mean but he was in a hurry.

They put the flames out and got several men to help break Lucas free. After about 10 minutes they got him out and he was rushed to the hospital. Nathan was sitting on a nearby curb. He was in such shock about all the events that just happened that he did not even get to see his brother. Jake was next to him with Jenny. Jake looked very nervous.

"Jake you were here, what happened?" asked Nathan still looking at the same spot in the road.

"um I don't know he just swerved." He said nervously. Jenny started to cry.

"it's my fault." Her little fragile body let out.

Nathan's head jolted up. Jake was just as shocked and he tried to get Jenny to take back her words.

"Jenny it's not your fault." He said taking his little girl into his arms. Jenny just shook her head.

"yes it is." She said on the verge of more tears.

Nathan looked to Jake. "Jake is that what really happened."

Jake shook his head and tears developed in his eyes. "Jenny dropped her doll in the street." He paused to gather his thoughts. "when we were across the street, I continued walking. Then I noticed Jenny was gone." He shuddered. " She went back to get her Barbie but the walk sign was turned off. Lucas was driving through when he saw Jenny and swerved to miss her." He grabbed Jenny and buried his face in her back.

Nathan but his hand on Jakes back. "don't blame yourself for this." Nathan got up and basically sprinted back to his car dialing Haley on the way.

Meanwhile, while all that was going on…..

Haley heard about what happened with Lucas and Peyton.

Peyton was still in her room. Haley walked up to her room.

"knock, knock" Haley said playfully.

"hey hales." Peyton said weakly. "whats up?"

"well I was just checking up on you."

"what is there to check up on?" Peyton sat up on her bed and moved over so Haley could have a seat.

"I heard about you and Lucas and I know its probably not my place. But I was just worried." It was silent. "Peyton, I guess I'm just a little confused, I thought you wanted to be back with Luke." Haley fiddled with some loose stitches on the bed, out of nervousness.

"me too." She opened her mouth to say something then stopped. "but it all seemed to move so fast, and I realized that I'm scared that when a tough moment comes that Luke will just leave again. Then Jake came back." She looked out the window then back to Haley. "he came back Haley."

Haley immediately cut in. "I know he came back and Jake is a great guy and if you want him then hold onto him and don't let him go. But Peyton Lucas came back too. Maybe not physically but mentally, these past few days I have seen the old Lucas." Both Haley and Peyton smiled at that comment. "I'm not telling you, you have to go back with Luke. But you have wanted Luke for 4 years and now you have him. I know he hurt you and was an a but he has changed, because of you. Nathan told me he left, I miss him already." With that she hugged her friend and got off the bed to walk out the door.

Before she exited she paused and turned around. "just remember to follow your heart Peyton." Peyton got up and turned some music on. Haley was not even half way down the hall when Nathan called.

"Hello?...what?...Oh my god, I'm on my way." Hearing about what just happened Haley ran out the door. Peyton's music was so loud she didn't even hear.

-It was about a half hour later and we see Peyton at her mom's grave.

"hey mom." She sits there for a few moments in silence. "I don't know what to do!" she breaks down and start to cry. "I said I would give Jake a chance cause I know that he will never leave me and he hasn't broken my heart like luke has. I've always been able to trust Jake." She sat there in silence again. She took her hand and rubbed it over the gravestone. "but Luke has always had my heart. Jake only had/has some of it. I'm scared that Luke will leave again, that he will hurt me again. I cant go through that again!" she began to get angry. The wind outside began to pick up, it shook Peyton a little bit. "ok sorry, I'm calmed down now. Thanks mom." She looked at her hands. "I don't know what my heart is telling me." With that she got up and walked back to her car.

Haley arrived at the hospital to see Nathan sitting in one of those uncomfortable chairs. His eyes were red and tear marks were all over his face. He saw Haley and jumped up to run into her arms.

"how is he?" was all Haley could get out through her sobs.

Nathan just shook his head. "I don't know." He said simply. "I'm worried Hales. I was so angry at him for leaving but then this happened, and I realized something." He paused and Haley looked him in the eyes. "no matter what Luke does, he is my brother and I will always love him. And I'm worried I wont get to tell him that." Haley's heart melted and they both sat down, never letting go of eachother.

Brooke arrived soon after, she was cradling Angie in her arms and holding Jamie's hand. He ran up to his parents and sat on Nathan's lap, not even saying a word.

Brooke took a good look at the crowd and then decided. "I'm going to call Peyton. I think she should know." She said simply and walked outside.

Peyton's phone rang.

"hello?"

"Peyton, I know you and Luke aren't on the best terms right now but he needs you and so do all of us." Brooke started to cry.

"what do you mean?"

"Lucas got into a bad car accident." She paused. "we don't know what happened, all we know is that it is really bad." She sobbed some more. There was silence then Peyton finally broke it.

"Ho- I'm on my way." She hung up the phone quickly. She started to silently cry as she rushed to get to her car.

-Peyton arrives at the hospital and rushes in to see Nathan, Haley and Jamie sitting together. Brooke is holding Angie. Skills, mouth, and Millie are sitting in chairs. Jake is the first one to walk up to her. He attempts to kiss her but she backs away. She grabs Jake's hand and walks down a hall.

"Jake I don't think we can do this right now." Said Peyton

"ok I'll kiss you later." Said Jake half laughing.

"no I mean us." She says quietly. Jake looks at her confused. "People have been talking to me and I talked to my mom today. I don't know what my heart is telling me exactly and I need time to figure it out." Peyton was looking Jake directly in the eyes. But she did notice when she looked him in the eyes, she didn't get lost in them. They didn't have the same effects as Lucas' eyes.

"what do you mean? I love you Peyton that is all that I can do. You obviously still love Luke if you cant choose me right here."

"Jake, just give me time ok. I just need to think."

"no, Peyton I came back for you, and I want to be with you. I cant wait any longer. I'm leaving. Goodbye Peyton." He kissed her on the cheek. With that Jake took Jenny and left the hospital.

Peyton held back the tears as much as she could and went back to her friends. They noticed her and Nathan and haley both jumped up and gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry If I made you mad Peyton." Said Nathan.

"No, no you were just speaking your mind, its ok." She gave him another hug. "how is he?" asked Peyton.

"we don't know for sure, but its not good at all." Said Brooke walking up and giving peyton a hug.

"the accident was really bad." Said Nathan as he let more tears fall.

"oh" was all Peyton could say. She finally let all her tears fall and she sat down. The tears were from not only Jake but also that she could lose Lucas at any moment.

The doctor walked in. He was dressed in a white robe.

"Scott!" he yelled

Everyone stood up.

"the surgery went well, but he lost a lot of blood and is badly bruised, he is in a coma. And do not know when he will wake up. He has a broken leg." The doctor paused "only one visitor at a time." And then he left.

Nathan was first to speak. "Peyton I think you should go." Everyone else agreed and then she walked to his room.

-Peyton walked into his room slowly. She hesitated at first but then went to the bed and sat next to it. She looked at him and winced at what she saw. She hated seeing him like this; his face was bruised and he had a cut on his head that was all bandaged up. Tears started to sting the back of her eyes.

"I cant do this." She said and she ran out. On her way out she accidently ran into someone.

"Lindsey…" Peyton breathed out. They both looked at eachother weird then Peyton ran out of the hospital. Everyone was confused on what happened.

"Lindsey?!" Haley and Brooke both said at the same time.

"hi guys, how is he?" she asked as tears started to develop.

"Lindsey he isn't well, and I'm sorry for your pain, but I don't think you should be here." Said Haley standing up and looking Lindsey directly in the eyes.

"haley I love him, and I realized that maybe he was right. He still loves me, peyton even came to me and told me that he was miserable without me." Lindsey said.

"no!" Brooke shouted. "he loves Peyton."

"what?" Lindsey asked confused and hurt.

"he loves Peyton, they finally found each other." Said Nathan. Everyone was surprised that he spoke. "I know you love my brother Lindsey but you cant be here. He loves Peyton and its going to all work out. I'm sorry but I'm not going to let you see him, you need to leave right now."

Lindsey started to cry. She nodded and walked out.

"I'm gonna go find Peyton." Said Brooke " can you watch Angie for me?" Haley nodded and Brooke walked out.

Brooke went to the cemetery and Peyton wasn't there, she decided to go to the river court. There peyton sat. brooke got out of her car and walked up to Peyton.

"hey P. Sawyer." She said.

Peyton looked behind her and saw Brooke approaching. "hey." She said weakly.

"so you wanna talk about what happened back there?"

"I couldn't do it, its to hard to see him like that. And I'm just so confused. Was it my fault that he is in this condition?" Peyton sobbed and let the tears come.

"no, not at all." Brooke shook her head and put an arm around Peyton. "but I don't think your confused about Jake and Lucas, I think your in love with Lucas. You are just afraid of what is to come." Brooke said honestly.

Peyton nodded her head. "yea."

"but I know Lucas and he is so in love with you Peyton. He wont hurt you again you just have to trust that." She paused and Peyton laid her head on her shoulder. "In life if we hold back, then we miss out on some great things. We have to take risks. I think this is 1 risk that you should take." **(Take1risk, hehehehe)**

Peyton finally looked into Brookes eyes. "I love him so much, I really do Brooke. I cant lose him!" she said honestly and full of love. She let tears stream down her face.

Brooke embraced her in a hug. "I know hunny, I know." This was such a powerful moment that Brooke even had tears in her eyes.

**A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed and read my story, it really does mean a lot, and pushes me to do better. Since I have most of this story written out, there should be an update tomorrow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Everything that happens, happens for a reason. Good or bad, God doesn't make things happen just cause he wants them to, he always has a reason.

2 weeks later Lucas was still not awake. But today was a good day. Today, Peyton got enough courage to go in and face Lucas.

She walked into the room and sat down again. She grabbed his hand, tears were already streaming down her face. Lucas was lying in his bed unconscious and still looking a little beaten up but it had gotten better.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to realize, but I love you so much Luke. Before I was just confused and when Jake came back it kicked up some new feelings that were left in the dust. But I realized that I wasn't in love with him. I just did what you did and hid behind him. I had a feeling that Jake would never leave me and I was afraid that you would leave me. But you know what I am willing to take that chance, because I love you so much. I just need you here with me, I need you to hold me in your arms and never let me go. I just need you to love me." She was now crying a lot. She squeezed his hand, she said all she wanted to say. But she didn't want to leave yet.

She decided to talk a little more, cause she knew it was possible that they could hear you. "Jake left because I said I needed time. Out of all people I would of thought that you and Jake would never actually leave me." She was about to say more but was cut off.

"I'm still here." Said a voice weakly. "and I love you too. I am never going to leave you Peyton, not again." That was Lucas and he heard everything that she had said.

FLASHBACK

_While Lucas was in a coma he wasn't just lying there doing nothing._

"_Keith!" Lucas shouted and ran and gave Keith a hug._

"_hey Luke."_

"_am I dead?" asked Lucas confused._

"_no, not yet, but whatever you choose, it will be forever." Said Keith seriously._

_They got talking for a while and Lucas was sure he was going to stay despite all the negatives Keith had mentioned._

"_ok Lucas, but I think you should go back. They need you." Said Keith trying to convince Lucas to go back to reality._

"_I cant, I'm not happy unless I have Peyton. I feel like there is something missing without her." Lucas cried. That is when he heard Peyton_

END OF FLASHBACK

Peyton was crying tears of joy that Lucas was ok. She instantly jumped up and put her arms around him.

"water, please." Lucas was barely able to get out.

"oh yea!" Peyton grabbed some water.

He took a sip.

Everyone heard commotion in his room and went to check it out.

"uncle Luke!" Jamie shouted and ran to his uncle.

Nathan and Haley were close behind.

"Lucas." Nathan sighed in relief. "I'm so glad your ok." He said as he gave his older brother a hug.

"yea Luke, don't scare us again." Said Haley half crying half laughing as she also gave him a hug.

All Luke could do was smile happily. He made the best choice hi could possibly make. "I love you guys."

-2 weeks later…..

Lucas was sitting on his hospital bed waiting for Peyton to pick him up. He was on cruches. She was running a little late so he decided to go sit by the window and look out it. Just when he was about to call her Peyton came up and put her arms around his neck, surprising him. He turned his head and she gave him a kiss on the lips.

"hey you" He said as they broke apart.

"hey" she couldn't say anymore she was still lost in his eyes. Then she came back to reality "sorry I'm late but I got this for you." She pulled out a cute penguin stuffed animal from her back.

Lucas just laughed at her.

She laughed along "I thought it was so cute, and it reminded me of you." He smiled at her then kissed her on the lips again.

"ready to go?" Peyton asked.

"oh yea!" Lucas said gratefully.

They got out to the car….there was a bag in the back.

"are you going somewhere?" Lucas asked.

"well I thought since you are a little disabled and I really want to spend more time with you" she paused looking for any expressions "I could stay with you until you get better." She said hopefully.

Lucas immediately got a smile on his face. "I would love that Peyton."

She then breathed a sigh of relief and smiled herself. "good." Then she looked back at him. "Its not like you had a choice anyways." Lucas chuckled. "well anyways we need to stop at tric I need to get your opinion on a new addition to it."

"ok lets go."

At Tric……..

Peyton and Lucas just walked in and then everyone jumped out.

"SURPRISE!" the gang had set up a party for Lucas' coming home.

"haha thanks guys." He gave a little bit of an evil glare at Peyton. She just smiled back and kissed him on the cheek.

"you know you love me." He couldn't help but smile at that. "come on lets go get a drink."

Lucas and Peyton got a drink then started to talk to everyone.

"so Brooke are you going to be ok by yourself." Asked Lucas, his arm was around Peyton.

"well I'm not by myself I still have Angie." She said holding Angie in her arms.

"oh yea." Lucas said remembering that Brooke still had Angie for a couple more days.

That night at Lucas' house…..

Lucas and Peyton were lying in bed. She was wrapped in his arms and her head was laid on his chest.

"I could do this forever." He said

Peyton was almost asleep "do what?"

"hold you, love you, just be with you." He said, she was now looking in his eyes. "I love you, Peyt."

"I love you too, Luke." She smiled and kissed him passionately on the lips. "oh your leg needs to heal fast." She said breaking away though it was hard.

"why?" he laughed.

"cause your too sexy and I am sleeping in the same bed as you." She said lying her head back on his chest.

He just chuckled.

Before she fell asleep. "once your leg is healed you owe me."

-1 week later…..

Lucas is feeling much better and can pretty much take care of himself, he is off crutches but still has a limp. Lucas is walking towards the ice cream parlor with Jamie.

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_

"hello?" luke picked up his phone.

"_hey Luke, I finished all my work, what are you up to?"_ asked Peyton

Lucas smiled the moment he heard Peyton's voice.

"I'm just watching my little nephew for the day, Nathan and Haley wanted a day to themselves. And anyways I haven't gotten to spend much time with my little man." He gave Jamie a playful shove smiling down at him. Jamie gave a little push back while laughing. "hold on a second, Peyt." He turned to Jamie. "do you mind if aunty Peyton joins us?"

"no, not at all." Jamie got all excited, he enjoyed hanging out with his aunts and uncles.

"Peyton why don't you join us?" asked Lucas into the phone

"_oh I don't want to intrude on some awesome male bonding."_ Peyton laughed.

"no, we want you to come. Please!"

Jamie grabbed the phone. "yea please aunt Peyton!"

"_I guess I could. I'm kinda in the mood for icecream anyways."_

Nathan and Haley are at the beach, the spot where they got married. They sat by a tree, sitting on a blue and white checkered blanket.

"I love this place." Said Haley.

"yea me too. But you know what else I love?" said Nathan scooting closer to Haley.

"what?"

"you." He touched her nose with his finger and kissed her on the lips.

"I love you too."

They sat there for a little bit, just enjoying the time alone.

"you know I miss time alone with you." Said Nathan

"yea me too. It's really nice." Said Haley.

"I still miss Jamie a little bit though." Said Nathan "so you ready to eat?" he pulled the basked closer to them and started to rummage through it.

"I am starving!" said Haley as she started to grab food.

Brooke was at home working on some sketches. She was spending some time with Angie too. This is the last day she would get to spend with the little girl.

"hello?"

"_hey Brooke, its Ethan, Angie's doctor. Um I was just wondering would you like to go out to dinner sometime? I know it seems sudden but…."_

"I'd love to!" Brooke almost shouted into the phone.

"_great! Is Saturday at 7 sound good?"_

"that sounds perfect, I'll see you then." Brooke gave a playful squeal.

"Angie thank you so much, this is all your doing!" she tickled Angie in the stomach.

Just as she set the phone down, her phone started to ring again.

"hello?"

"_hey Brooke, I got back to town today. Mind if I come see you?"_

"Chase…"

Peyton, Jamie and Lucas decided to walk on the beach while they ate their ice cream.

"thanks for the ice cream uncle Lucas." Jamie said as he took a big chunk out of his ice cream cone.

"no problem, buddy." He smiled and ruffled Jamie's hair.

"yea thanks Luke." Peyton looked up to Lucas and laughed.

"what?" Lucas asked confused.

She took her thumb and removed some ice cream that was all over his mouth.

"there, that's better."

"wait what is that right there?" Lucas pointed to Peyton's lip.

"where?"

Before she could bring her hand up to check her mouth, Lucas' lips were pressed against hers. He pulled away and smiled brightly.

"got it." Peyton blushed and smiled.

"ewww get a room." Jamie shouted.

Peyton and Lucas both laughed.

-there was a knock at Brookes door and she went to answer it.

"hey chase!" she wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist.

"hey, I missed you."

"I missed you too."

They sat and talked for a little bit and then there was a moment of silence. Chase leaned in and before Brooke knew it his lips were on hers. Brooke couldn't help but push him away.

"oh, I'm sorry it just happened." Said Chase as he moved towards the door.

Brooke shook her head "its ok, its just…."

He spun around "just what?"

"I have a date on Saturday." That was all it took and he moved toward the door. The look on his face broke brooke's heart, but she wasn't sure if she loved him anymore.

Before he walked out he turned around again. "I'm sorry Brooke." And with that he left.

The next day. ……..

Peyton and Lucas were lying at the beach in the sand. Peyton was in her bikini and Lucas in his swim trunks. Peyton was lying on his chest and then she just noticed one of Lucas' scars.

"what is that from?!" she asked, not really shocked but in a wow sort of tone.

Lucas was pulled from his thoughts and he looked down. He smiled. On his chest right above his heart was a scar in somewhat a shape of a heart.

"it's a scar I got from the accident." He said plainly while pushing the hair out of peytons face.

"its weird but cool and cute at the same time." Peyton examined it very closely.

Lucas just laughed. "yea I guess so. But you know what I'm glad I have it."

"why?" Peyton looked to Lucas' face and found his beautiful blue eyes that she could always get lost in.

"because the moment that I got into the accident I realized something. That I made a mistake, that I needed to turn around and fight for you. I realized that I have always loved you and always will. I knew that I needed to stay alive just to see your face again. This scar reminds me of how grateful I am to have you in my life." He smiled down at her and kissed her on the forehead.

"why cant I say things the way you say them?" she asked. She was still blushing from Lucas' speech of his love for her.

"because you don't have such a great inspiration to speak those words about." She blushed again. He smiled "your heart is all I need and want."

She couldn't speak, she was speechless. All she could say was "I love you Lucas Eugene Scott."

"and I you, miss Peyton Sawyer." In his mind he said Scott instead of Sawyer.

She leaned in and kissed him with all the passion she had. He grabbed the back of her head and his hands got lost in her golden curls.

-there was a lot of debate going on in Brooke's head right now. Did she still love Chase? But whatever the little angel and devil was telling her, she finally made the decision that no matter what, she was going to give Ethan a chance.

Date night……..

"Peyton I have no idea what to wear!!" Brooke shouted. Peyton was sitting on Brooke's bed laughing at her as she would pace back and forth.

"didn't you have something picked out?" Peyton laughed.

"shut up P. Sawyer, I remember having to help you pick out outfits to go out with a certain Mr. Scott." Said Brooke.

"would that be me?" Lucas asked as he walked into Brooke's room. He sat next to Peyton and gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

"no, Nathan." Peyton said sarcastically. "Brooke, seriously what you picked out before was great!"

"no to fancy." Brooke whined.

"what about that one." Peyton pointed to an outfit.

"too casual."

Lucas just watched in amazement as Peyton and Brooke tried to pick out an outfit. Finally he stood up. He grabbed a nice light blue halter top that had sequins at the top, and a cute jean skirt. He also grabbed some white sparkly flip flops.

"Here I cant take it anymore." He handed them to Brooke. This stopped Peyton and Brooke's bickering. Brooke hadn't noticed that it was Lucas who handed her the outfit.

"P. Sawyer this is great! Its perfect." Brooke shouted and leapt into Peytons arms.

"yea Brooke I really like it, but I cant take credit for that." They both looked at Lucas.

"wait Lucas?" Brooke asked in surprise.

Lucas nodded.

"Lucas you seriously picked this out?" asked Brooke. After Lucas nodded again, she looked at Peyton.

"wait are you….." Brooke asked jokingly.

"no!"shouted Lucas. "how could you say that." Lucas defended himself.

Peyton was on the floor laughing.

"well honestly, this is a really cute outfit, you should help me out often." Brooke laughed.

Lucas blushed and left the room.

"wow Peyton, you better be careful on what outfits you pick out from now on. Considering you have a boyfriend that can do it for you." Said Brooke.

"shut up and get dressed." Peyton stuck out her tounge.

Lucas was sitting on the couch rocking Angie………..

"Luke is there something your not telling me?" Peyton asked jokingly.

Lucas rolled his eyes.

"I'm just kidding. That was cute by the way, what you did back there." Peyton gave Lucas a little kiss.

"yea, well I don't think I'll be doing that again." Lucas added. Peyton laughed along with Lucas.

There was a knock at the door.

"Brooke!" Peyton screamed and answered the door.

"hey Ethan she will be down in…" Brooke was at the door. "right now I guess. Oh Brooke by the way, you look hot." And Peyton walked away.

Ethan nodded in agreement.

"compliments of Lucas Scott" Peyton whispered in Lucas' hear. He smiled.

Before Brooke walked out, "goodbye my little angel." She blew Angie a kiss.

Brooke and Ethan arrived at a little Italian restaurant.

"you really do look great Brooke." Said Ethan.

"thank you. You don't look half bad yourself." She added.

They sat down and got to talking about Angie and clothes over Bros and other things.

Then their waiter came.

"how may I help you?" the waiter asked and then he almost dropped his pen at the sight of Brooke.

Brooke looked up. _Oh no! this cant be happening._ She thought to herself. The waiter was Chase.

Ethan was confused but quickly put those thoughts aside. He ordered for them and chase quickly walked away.

"did you know him?" asked Ethan.

"yea he is an old…." She paused what should she say. "an old friend."

He nodded and he got back to talking.

Their entrees came and Brooke eyes widened at the deliciously looking food in front of her. She took a bite.

"how is it?" Ethan asked, since he ordered for her.

"its amazing." Brooke enjoyed the taste.

"great." He smiled and took a bite of his own food.

They hadn't seen Chase the rest of the night, he must have changed tables or something.

A couple hours later Ethan was dropping Brooke off at her house.

"I had a great time tonight Brooke." Said Ethan.

"me too. I had a really great time." She got out her keys.

"well goodnight." He said.

"goodn-…." Before she knew it his lips were on hers. After that he walked away with a wave and a smile.

She smirked and walked inside.

**A/N: thanks for the reviews! I love hearing from you guys, if you ever have any ideas or advice, please feel free to say it. Just to let you know, the next chapter may take a very unexpected turn. I hope you like it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-2 weeks later……………

Nathan, Haley and Jamie just got home from a walk and as they passed by the mailbox they decided to grab the mail.

"hey J man you wanna grab the mail?" asked Nathan.

"yea sure!" Jamie skipped over to the mailbox and grabbed the mail. "eww its all junk mail."

"you mean all mail for mommy and daddy and none for Jamie." Said Haley. Jamie simply nodded.

"ugh it is junk mail." Haley moaned.

"told you so." Jamie said knowingly.

"whats this?" Nathan pulled a specific letter from the pile as Haley set it on the counter.

He quickly opened the letter and read what it said. His eyes widened and he grabbed the phone to call Lucas. Haley picked up the letter and tears started to develop in her eyes.

"whats wrong momma?" Jamie asked innocently.

All Haley could do was hug her son. She didn't know what to say to him.

Meanwhile………..

"Lucas get up!" Peyton shouted as she walked through the side door to Lucas' house. She playfully jumped on him.

"just 5 more minutes." He moaned as he pulled a pillow over his head.

"fine, I guess you wont get to kiss me, which means you don't get to try out my new strawberry lipgloss." Peyton said trying to bribe Lucas out of bed. She walked out of his room and into the kitchen.

Within seconds Lucas was in the kitchen. Peyton was at the stove heating up a pan and he put his arms around her waist.

"Good morning blondie." He said and he pulled her in for a kiss. "mmmm that lip gloss is good." She smiled at him and he smiled back, then looked to the pan. "what are you doing?"

"um I'm going to make eggs."

"yea, cause you are the best cooker in the world." He said sarcastically.

She hit him on the chest. "I can make some foods, just not chocolate chip cookies. And anyways I'm not letting you cook unless you put a shirt on." She eyed his torso. "on second thought, just stay shirtless, I'll cook." He smirked and kissed her again.

"I'm going to go get the mail."

A couple minutes later Lucas was back, a letter in his hands and he had a worried look on his face.

"whats the matter?" Peyton asked, and she grabbed the letter. She looked up at him and embraced him. She let the tears role down her face.

Then the phone rang. It rang a couple times before Lucas picked it up.

"hey Nate. Yea I got one too. Can we talk about this later?" Lucas hung up the phone and dropped to the floor, leaning against the cabinets.

"please tell me this is a dream." Peyton cried as she sat in Lucas' lap.

"I wish I could." Lucas put his head into Peyton's shoulder. "I'm scared."

On the table was the famous letter that both the Scott's had received. It was a drafting letter. In exactly one month both the Scott brothers were due to be shipped off to Iraq to help in the war.

-Brooke and Ethan are at Brooke's house sitting outside.

"Brooke I have to tell you something." Ethan didn't sound to happy.

"what?" Brooke asked she was a little confused and nervous.

"Yesterday in the mail I got a draft letter. I have to go to war in one month." Ethan said sadly.

Brooke was speechless, she just put her arms around her boyfriend and let tears fall.

Little did they know that Chase heard everything.

About a week before they all have to leave……..

Nathan and Haley went out for dinner, Jamie went with Brooke and Ethan so Nathan and Haley could have some alone time.

"Nathan can I please take off this blindfold now?" Haley asked annoyed.

"no! come on we are almost there. Just be patient." Nathan was guiding her, they were somewhere on the beach.

"Here we are." Nathan whipped off the blindfold and Haley's jaw dropped.

They were at the special spot on the beach where they got married. Christmas lights were strung on some trees and there was a table with 2 candles and flowers in the center.

Nathan pulled out a chair for Haley to sit. "here you go my lady." Nathan said in a low voice.

"why thank you kind sir." Haley said in a british accent.

Right in front of each of them was a plate of macaroni and cheese, with a side of garlic bread and champagne. Haley was just so amazed at how good her husband was to her. She looked down at the food and grinned from ear to ear.

"food of the God's right." Nathan said to her.

Haley laughed while she remembered their very first date. She was a little afraid because Nathan couldn't really cook. As she took a bite it was the greatest thing she had ever tasted.

"Nathan this is amazing!" she finally let out.

"only the best for my amazing woman." He replied and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

While Nathan claimed the beach, Lucas claimed the River court for his date.

"Lucas you know I hate surprises." Peyton said annoyed.

"yea, but you're going to like this one." He replied.

As Lucas guided her to the River Court he became more and more anxious. It was finally time to pull off the blindfold.

Peyton stood there shocked and in awe of the sight in front of her. There were white rose pedals around the table in the center of the River Court and also a trail of them leading up to the table. Tiki torches were in various places.

Noticing that she wasn't moving Lucas grabbed her hand and led her to the table. On the table was Lucas' famous fettuccini alfredo with chicken. There was a side of Garlic bread and red wine.

He pulled out a chair for her to sit down. He took a seat right across from her.

She was still shocked.

He waved a hand in front of her face. "peyton you there?" he asked.

"yes." Was her simple reply. She then turned and looked at everything around her. "Lucas this is so beautiful."

"not nearly as beautiful as you." He said with a smile.

"you are so cheesy sometimes you know that." She laughed.

"yea, but you love my cheesiness."

"you're right, I do." She gave him a tender kiss on the lips.

"now lets eat, I'm hungry."

About an hour later, Lucas and Peyton were lying on a blanket that Lucas set up for them. They were sitting in each other's arms, talking and enjoying each other's presence. All of a sudden as they were looking up at the sky a shooting star flew by.

"oh! A shooting star make a wish." Peyton exclaimed.

"ok." Lucas sat up on his elbows facing Peyton. "I wish you would marry me."

Peyton looked up at him. "what?"

He pulled out a black velvet box from his right jean pocket.

"Peyton, I love you so much and I cant imagine my life without you. I've made so many mistakes and I'm sorry for that. I know you deserve better, but I promise I will spend the rest of my life showing how much I love you. I know it's not fair of me to ask you to wait for me until I get back but I love you so much and I have to try. Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, will you marry me?" He had an innocent look in his eyes and he was just staring into her green ones.

"I would wait forever for you Lucas Eugene Scott. Yes I will marry you." She was in tears but still smiling.

He smiled brightly and was over excited. He slipped the silver diamond ring on her left hand. She took his head in both her hands and gave him a passion filled kiss.

"you're wrong."

"what?" he asked confused.

"you said I deserve better. I don't, all I need and want is your heart and love."

He smiled and kissed her again. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Brooke was lying on Ethan's shoulder fast asleep. Ethan's head was rested on the back of the couch, fast asleep. The movie cars had just ended. Jamie was still wide awake.

Jamie just shrugged and laid his head in Brooke's lap and fell asleep.

**A/N: ok I'm sorry, I know this is shorter but I decided that this was a good place to stop for this update. And this was probs really unexpected, but I already wrote the story so…. Yeah. Maybe if I get a lot of reviews today, I'll update later tonight! Just cause I like you guys so much. Please review!**

**P.S. I started a new fic!! Its called the Heart will lead you home, if you want to check it out. I will also be updating my other fic Nowhere to run today. I know, 3 fics, but I will update as much as I can!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

(keep in mind I have no idea how draft goes. So I'm making all this stuff up)

-It was the day that Lucas and Nathan would leave for one year.

Nathan, Lucas and Ethan were all saying their last goodbyes to their loved ones. Of course the girls all had tears in their eyes.

"I'm gonna miss you little girl." Lucas said as he held Lily in his arms. "bye mom, take care ok."

Karen nodded and gave Lucas a hug. She had tears streaming down her face.

"bye J man." Nathan couldn't help but get tears in his eyes as he held his son. "I'm gonna miss you buddy."

"I'm going to miss you too daddy." Jamie cried.

Nathan stood and then looked into Haley's eyes. "I love you, Hales."

She leaned into his arms. "I love you too."

Lucas looked directly into the green eyes, he often found himself getting lost in, of the beautiful blonde that was all his.

"you're my angel Peyton, the only thing that is going to keep me going. I love you, so much." He put his strong arms around her waist and embraced her in a hug.

"I love you too." She sobbed into his shoulder. "and I'll be waiting for you when you get back." He gave her a passionate kiss and then forced himself to walk along with his brother.

"bye Brooke." Ethan gave her a hug and walked away, it was too much for him.

The three men got in the line to sign in.

"name" the person at the desk said.

"Lucas Scott."

"Nathan Scott."

They were threw and proceeded on.

"Name" The lady sounded annoyed and tired of being there.

"Ethan (whats his last name?!) Johnson."

The lady looked at the paper and then back to him. "haha your funny, please leave so we can keep this moving smoothly."

"what? I was drafted." Ethan replied confused.

"well it says here, that you are already on that plane. So if you don't mind, could you please move out of the line so we can get more people through?"

Ethan walked away shocked.

He walked back to Brooke and everyone else.

Brooke had been crying but when she looked up she was confused.

"Ethan?" Brooke ran into his arms. "what are you doing?"

"they said I already signed in."

On the plane……..

"I'm glad we are going through this together." Said Nathan. "I don't think I could do this alone."

"me neither. I'm still scared though." Lucas replied and they took their seats.

"yea, but we are going to come back safe. I am going to see Haley and Jamie again. And you are going to marry Peyton." Nathan patted his brother's back and smiled.

"yea." Lucas said reassuringly.

They sat there for a moment when someone in the seat in front of them turned around to introduce himself.

"hi I'm chase A……" Chase began. "Lucas, Nathan?!"

"chase!" they both exclaimed.

"what are you doing here?" asked Lucas.

"it's a long story." Said Chase.

"well we have a long plane ride, come on spill." Nathan demanded.

"I love Brooke, and she loves Ethan. So sometimes you do something crazy for the person you love." Chase said honestly.

"you came in Ethan's place?" asked Lucas in surprise.

"yes." Chase said simply.

"that's brave man." Said Nathan.

"but we have to stick together, we aren't in this alone." Lucas said.

Nathan and Chase both nodded in agreement.

-About 2 months later……..

Peyton and Haley have been spending a lot of time together.

They are at the doctor's office….

Peyton walks into the waiting room where Haley is. The expression on her face is a little frightened. She had a slight smile on her face though.

"Oh God Peyton that's great!" Haley ran up and hugged her. She pulled back. "Its great right?"

"yea." Peyton said quietly.

"well if its so great, why the long face?" Haley asked with a smile trying to cheer up her friend.

"I just always imagined Lucas, coming to the doctor with me. Its kind of a thing when you first have a baby." Peyton joked.

"yea I know. But it wasn't exactly planned, but its still really exciting." They were starting to walk outside to the car.

"yea, I don't think I would have this any other way. I've always dreamed of having Lucas' baby."

"if you don't mind me asking, when was it conceived?" Haley asked hesitantly not sure of Peyton's reaction.

"Hales its fine. It was the night Lucas proposed." She said shyly.

Haley nodded. "I'm here for you girly. And you can always write a letter to Lucas."

Brooke had thought about Chase a lot lately. Just after the boys left she found a letter on her table.

_Dear Brooke,_

_Right now you're probably reading this thinking what the heck was chase thinking. Well here it is, I was thinking about you. I could see that you love Ethan a lot. I wish you could love me like that, but I don't think that will ever happen. I thought about it for a little bit and I could've let Ethan go and try to win you back while he was gone. But then my heart told me that if I really loved you, that would not be the right choice. So I went in Ethans place. I love you Brooke, and I think I will forever. I hope to see you again someday, and if not….Goodbye beautiful girl._

_Love,_

_ Chase_

_But what if I still love you. _Was what Brooke thought after she read that letter.

In Iraq…………..

"come on lets move!" captain Smith shouted.

Nathan, Lucas and chase all had guns in their hands. Their mission was to save some other soldiers from the prison camps. They had just recently come under fire and were ducking for cover.

All of a sudden Nathan was shot in the leg.

"ahhhhhh!" he screeched in pain.

"Nathan!" Lucas shouted and he ran to help his brother.

"Lucas! Be careful!" Chase shouted and was close behind.

Luckily they got Nathan and dragged him to a safe place. They found themselves in a cave. Lucas was breathing heavily with the shock of almost losing his brother.

"Lucas did you take your heart meds." Nathan scolded. He was in pain.

"yes, I'm fine. It's you we should be worrying about." Lucas said while wrapping Chase's leg.

"well boys, we mine as well stay here the night. We will continue in the morning." Said Captain Smith.

There were only 8 men left including the Scott brothers and Chase. They started with 10.

The next morning……..

They woke up to gun fire. They immediately packed up and headed out of the cave. Refusing to leave Nathan behind, Lucas and some of the other guys each took turns holding him on their backs.

Nathan felt horrible. But he knew his brother would never leave him behind. From then on he promised that he would do everything he could to protect Lucas.

It wasn't long before they had to duck and cover, they were under attack again.

"Nathan!" Lucas jumped and pushed his brother down with him. They just missed the bullets that whizzed by.

Lucas looked around frantically. "chase!" he shouted He couldn't find him. It was then that he looked up Chase was lying on the floor grabbing at his shoulder. He had been shot. Lucas tried to get up and go after him but it was too late, the enemy had already grabbed him and dragged him to a truck.

"where is Chase?" Nathan asked.

"he was just taken." Lucas said sadly.

"shhhhh" captain Smith exclaimed. "we cant let them find us."

The enemy was gone and once again Lucas and Nathan were safe……..for now.

-In Iraq…………

The group had been out for days. Their base had been attacked and they were on their way to the nearest base. They had no choice but to run, there was no way out but to go on foot.

It was now down to Lucas, Nathan, a fellow soldier called Slug, and two other soldiers, Alex and Tom. Their captain was shot in the head and died instantly, the others had wounds that eventually made them collapse.

Still walking……

"Lucas, don't forget to take your heart pills." Nathan demanded.

"thanks nate." Lucas smiled at his brothers protectiveness. Lucas popped open his pill bottle. He tipped it and out popped one pill. ONE. His last pill. _Oh God please help._ Lucas thought to 

himself. He wasn't about to say anything to Nathan. He silently cursed himself for not having his extra bottle. To help cover up he picked up some rocks from the ground and put them in the bottle.

"I can't wait to get back to my girlfriend. When I get back, I'm going to ask her to marry me. I can't wa-.." Tom was cut off as he was hit with a bullet in his side. "ahhh." He screamed in pain.

The other's ducked and got out of the way. They were about to go after him, when he maneuvered his hand in a way of telling them to back off and move on.

Without protest Alex jumped from his hiding spot and grabbed Tom, giving up their hiding place.

"stop right there!" the enemy shouted. He also had another guy with him.

Lucas and Nathan froze.

"tell your friends to come out." He shouted again.

Lucas, Nathan, and Slug had no choice. They came from their spots with their hands up.

"Nathan, I'm going to distract them, you and Slug get out of here." Lucas whispered to Nathan.

"no way, I'm not leaving you."

"I promised Haley, I promised Jamie, I promised myself I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Please, I'll follow right after I take care of them, please Nathan." Lucas pleaded.

_FLASHBACK_

"_uncle Luke?" Jamie asked._

"_yea buddy?"_

"_promise me you will protect my daddy." Jamie looked up to his uncle innocently._

"_I promise." Lucas ruffled Jamie's hair._

_END FLASHBACK_

Without a word Lucas lunged forward at the man and got up and took out his partner.

"Nathan, Slug, Alex, get out of here!" Lucas shouted and was about to run along with them.

Suddenly another guy appeared in front of them. He held up a gun to Nathan. Nathan didn't really have time to react, plus he was limping because of his leg. Lucas was right there and pushed Nathan out of the way. In turn for that, Lucas took a bullet to his left forearm.

"Get Nathan and yourselves out of here!" Lucas yelled to his friends.

"No I'm not leaving you!" Nathan shouted from his place on the ground. Without any protest, Alex and Slug carried Nathan off, while Lucas took out the guy. Lucas punched the guy square in the face. He tried to make a run but the other men tackled him to the ground and knocked him out.

Nathan was forced to leave and also watch his brother be carried away.

"Lucas!" he kept yelling his name, but was soon hushed by his friends.

"we cant risk being taken." Slug replied.

**A/N: so how was the whole war thing, did I suck at writing it?? Review and let me know!! Did anyone else love the episode last night?! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Lucas woke up and he was in a cell. He could hardly see, it was dark out and he was still dizzy. His head bobbed back and forth as he regained consciousness. When he came back he was completely scared.

"hello?" he whispered.

"Lucas?" a man asked, clear excitement and relief in his voice.

"chase?"

"yea. Where is everyone else?"

"Nathan, Slug, and Alex got away. The rest died." Lucas replied sadly.

"why are you here then, I mean Nathan wouldn't just leave you."

"I pushed Nathan out of the way, and I told the guys to take him." It was then that Lucas realized the burning pain in his arm. He touched the wound and flinched.

"you got shot." Chase's voice filled with concern. He ripped off a piece of his shirt and reached for Lucas.

"wh-what are you doing." The pain was overwhelming.

"I'm going to tie this on your arm, so it will help stop the bleeding." Chase grabbed Lucas' arm gently and tied the piece of cloth around his arm. Lucas winced in pain, but knew it was the best thing to do.

"Chase I think we got company." A man whispered. "who is this?"

"Who? And this is Lucas."

"Hi, I'm (forest, forest gump., haha jk) Lou. I hear commotion outside, I think there is trouble."

Cut to Nathan and the guys…………

"I have to get back to my brother!" Nathan kept saying, he hated the thought of where his brother could be right now.

"He is a brave man. He did this to protect you, to get you safe." Alex told Nathan.

"I can't lose him, I need to know that he is ok." Nathan started to get tears in his eyes.

"I know its hard at first, but after being at war for a while, you get used to losing people." Slug suddenly cut in. He had been in Iraq for about 2 years now.

_That's why it was so hard for him to get to know us. _Nathan thought.

"yea but-…." Nathan started.

"Shut up!" Slug quieted Nathan.

They ducked down, there was firing going on.

"I think we got him." It was a U.S. soldier.

Out of nowhere the an Iraqi soldier appeared and started shooting at them. The U.S. soldier noticed and went to check it out.

"watch out!" Alex shouted and successfully moved out of the way, making Nathan a clear target.

"Nathan move!" Slug shouted from afar. Too late Nathan was shot in the chest and the Iraqi soldier started to move closer.

Back at home……..

Peyton was at home with a letter in her hand. She was smiling and rubbing her tummy.

_Dear Peyton,_

_It is pretty hard out here. Not the fact that the enemy could be anywhere, but the fact that I'm here without you. I love you so much and I can't wait to see you, to marry you and make you my wife. Just remember that even though I'm far away, I Love you and I always will. Tell everyone I said hi. I cant wait to hold you in my arms again._

_True love always,_

_Lucas._

She finished reading the letter to her baby. She read it everyday.

"Daddy doesn't know about you yet, but trust me, he loves you already. You are his baby girl." She smiled at her stomach, she loved the fact that she had a life inside her. Not only that, but it was her baby and Lucas'.

She was headed toward the fridge when there was a knock on the door. A man delivered a letter and then immediately left. She walked into the kitchen, opening the letter as she did. She read it and saw that it was about Lucas. The next thing you know, she was on the ground sobbing on her knees.

"no, Luke you cant leave me." In her hand was the letter that told her Lucas was missing. It told her exactly what happened. Their base was attacked and he had escaped. He was MIA.

Brooke walked in.

"Peyton?" she shouted. "Peyton where are you?" That is when she heard Peyton crying, she rushed into the kitchen and by her side. "Peyton, whats wrong, are you ok?"

Peyton couldn't speak, all that came out was a sob.

Brooke noticed the letter and picked it up and read it. Her jaw dropped and she instantly pulled Peyton close.

"Peyton!" Haley ran in, her eyes were red and puffy. She saw Brooke and Peyton on the floor in the kitchen.

Brooke motioned for Haley to come over. They sat there for God knows how long.

-In Iraq (Lucas and Chase)………….

"what was that?" Lucas asked. There was an explosion and then Brick went everywhere.

"we don't have much time we have to get out of here." Lou said and he motioned for them to follow him.

"what if someones coming to save us?" Chase asked.

"If someone was coming to save us I don't think they would blow this place to pieces." Lou replied.

"good point. Lets get out of here." Lucas instantly got up.

Chase and Lucas started to follow Lou. They were trying to escape. All of a sudden another explosion went off and they were each blown about 50 feet.

"what are you doing!" an Iraqi soldier yelled. He grabbed both Chase and Lucas by the collars, they were barely conscious. Another soldier grabbed Lou.

They grabbed them very roughly and threw them to the ground. They pointed a gun at their heads, and then it hit Lucas.

_I let Peyton down. I won't ever get to see her again, hold her in my arms again, kiss those perfect lips, or tell her how much I love her. I won't be able to start my own life with her._

Chase

_This is it. I went into this not really knowing what was going to happen. But now I know it wasn't for nothing, I came here to do what I wanted. I saved the man that Brooke loves. I sacrificed myself, because of my love for her and now she will know that I truly do love her._

"Wait!" a soldier shouted. Lucas and Chase finally breathed. They didn't even know they were holding it in, but it seemed like forever.

"what?"

"the captain wants them. Get them loaded into the truck!"

The soldier groaned in disappointment. "you guys are lucky." He laughed. "or maybe not."

Cut to Nathan…………

_The soldier kept getting closer and closer………_

Nathan's eyes fluttered open. _Where am I?_ He questioned. As his eyes finally opened he instantly shut them because of the bright light. He opened them again, slower this time, letting them adjust to the light. _I'm in a hospital? How did I get here? _It was then that he noticed the pain in his chest.

The door to Nathan's hospital room opened. A nurse walked in and noticed him.

"doctor, doctor he is awake!" the nurse said as she ran out of the room.

The doctor walked in. This frightened Nathan at first, he was still shaken up from the things he had seen out on the battle field. The doctor was a tall white man, he had short brunette hair, and was wearing a white coat.

"how are you feeling Nathan." The doctor asked.

"like my chest is about to burst open." He replied.

"well you were shot, do you remember anything?" the doctor asked.

_The soldier kept getting closer. He got to Nathan and hit him with the butt of his gun._

"_ahh" Nathan winced in Pain. He was grasping his chest as the blood flowed onto his hand._

_The soldier pointed a gun at him but then fell to the ground. Nathan looked at him, he had been shot in the neck._

"_its ok, you are safe now. Just breath." An American soldier assured Nathan._

_Nathan looked up to the soldiers face, he looked so familiar. Or was he just seeing things? He suddenly faded and everything went black._

"_over here!" Slug shouted to the other American soldiers that were in the area._

"_Nathan, we are going to get you help. Just hang in there." Alex said._

_It was all coming back to him. Who was the man that he saw?...Keith! it was Keith, he saw Keith. But how, and why?_

"Nathan?" the doctor shook him.

"yea, I remember." He looked down to his hands, then his head shot up. "my brother, where is my brother?" He shouted at the doctor frantically.

"I'm sorry, son, I don't know where he is." The doctor walked out/

He remembered Lucas and Chase. He was safe and they weren't. He felt like he let everyone down. What did he do to benefit the country? He didn't feel he did anything to help with the war. So much thinking finally brought him to rest.

Back at home…………………….

Peyton was really quiet all the time. The thought of her not knowing where Lucas was killed her. _What about the baby? I've always wanted this, a family with Lucas. I had it, and I let it slip away. But people always leave…..right?_

She sat in her house, curled up next to Haley. They spent a lot of time together lately. They comforted each other.

Brooke walked in with Jamie close behind, they went out to grab lunch.

"Hi auntie Peyton." Jamie walked up and hugged Peyton. "hi mommy." He gave her a hug and crawled into her lap.

"hey buddy." She wanted to stay strong, she had to, if she didn't her whole life would fall apart.

"we got some pasta, fettuccini alfredo, your favorite."

"and some pickles in ice cream, I have no idea why, but you seem to crave them a lot." Brooke tried to lighten the mood.

"thanks guys." Haley ruffled Jamie's hair.

"yea thanks Brooke, I mean for everything." Peyton started to tear up.

"oh P. Sawyer, you know I'm always here for you." She brought Peyton close. "you too Hales."

They sat there for a little bit. Brooke was hugging Peyton and Jamie was sitting on Haley's lap. They were all cuddled together on the couch.

"umm momma." Jamie broke the silence.

"yea?"

"can we eat and watch the movie now, I'm starving." Jamie asked innocently.

"of course we can bud, what movie you get?" Haley gave Jamie a kiss on the top of her head.

"only the best movie in the world. Finding Nemo." He got all excited and got up to get the movie.

"that's great Jimmy Jam." Peyton laughed.

-Peyton stayed at Haley's house. It was about 10 in the morning.

_Ring Ring._

"Hello?" Haley was at the stove making eggs when the phone rang.

"_Hales is that you" came Nathan's voice._

"Nathan!" Haley's shout rang throughout the whole house.

"_yes Hales, its me."Nathan chuckled. Even with the state he was in, it still brought him happiness to know Haley was there._

"Nathan how..how…where….whats going on?" Haley stuttered. She now had tears in her eyes. Just from hearing his voice.

"_it's kind of a long story Hales, I'll tell you when I get home."_

"you're coming home?! When? Oh my god I have to get Peyton." Haley was so relieved.

"_Haley, don't get Peyton. Please." Nathan said sternly. He was brought back to reality where he was safe and his brother was not._

"what? Why not. You are coming home, you guys are coming home. Aren't you?" Her voice started to raise and crack.

"_It's only me Hales. Lucas and Chase are still out there. I don't know where and I cant fix it. Just please stop." Nathan started to cry. "I'm sorry Haley. I'll be home soon." With that Nathan hung up the phone._

Haley dropped her spatula and started to sob. Peyton heard the commotion in the kitchen and went to see what was wrong.

"Haley, whats wrong?" Peyton asked with concern. She waited a little bit to calm down. With no reaction she started to get worried. "Haley what happened." She said more sternly.

"Nathan is coming home." She glanced at Peyton and then quickly turned away.

"but Haley that's great. They are coming home." Peyton started to get her hopes up.

Haley shook her head and looked to Peyton's eyes. "Nathan is coming home." Haley stopped and took a hold of Peyton's hands.

"but.." Peyton started to tear up.

"Lucas and Chase are still out there." Peyton let the unshed tears fall and she fell into Haley's arms.

In Iraq………..

Lucas' eyes started to flutter.

"He's waking up." Came a familiar voice.

_Ugh my head is killing me. _He opened his eyes. _Where am I?_

"hey Lucas." Said Chase.

"where are we?" Lucas asked

"In a van going somewhere." Lou cut in.

"what happened?"

"you don't remember?"

FLASHBACK

"_get moving!" an Iraqi soldier shouted. He pushed the three of them towards the van._

_Chase hit his leg on a rock and stopped moving for a second. The soldier pushed him forward and it knocked him over._

"_get up, you stupid American." He shouted._

"_you son of a Bit" Lucas shouted and lunged for the man. The other soldier came over and hit Lucas on the head with his gun._

END OF FLASHBACK

"we stopped." Lucas exclaimed and became worried. He looked to the back of the van where the Iraqi soldiers stood.

**A/N: sorry it took so long! Let me know what you think and pop a review in!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Iraq, Lucas and Chase…………

"get moving!" the soldier shouted. Chase, Lucas and Lou stood up as quickly as possible and got out of the van.

They were at a cave and had no idea why.

"what are we doing here?" Lou was brave enough to ask.

"we have stopped for the night." The soldier replied bluntly. "we were alarmed to not travel at night."

Tree Hill………..

There was a knock at the door, in the Naley house.

"hold on I'll get that." Haley said as she got up from the table.

She opened the door not expecting to see who she saw.

Iraq………….

"in the cave now!" a soldier shouted at Lucas and Chase.

They obeyed and were soon in a very dark place. A flash light was soon turned on and the cave had bugs everywhere. It was cold and wet, definitely not a five star hotel. They were forced to sleep on the ground with no blankets. They had received no food for days and were starving. Lucas and Chase were very slim.

"how is your heart?" asked Chase, as they settled in a place on the ground.

"good." Was all Lucas said.

It then came to Chase. "what about your heart medicine?" Chase exclaimed.

"I haven't taken that for about 2 weeks now." Lucas replied with Shame. "just leave it alone, I'm fine." The typical stubbornness of Lucas Scott.

Tree Hill………….

"Nathan!" Haley screamed and she jumped into his arms. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and buried one of his hands in her hair.

"Hales, I've missed you." Nathan said and put her down on the ground. "don't cry. I'm back now." Nathan wiped the tears off of Haley's face.

"I'm just so happy your home." Haley leaned up and kissed him.

Jamie peaked around the corner.

"daddy!" he screamed. He ran up and Nathan bent down to take his son in his arms.

"I missed you buddy." Nathan said into his ear.

"I missed you too, daddy." Jamie kissed his dad on the cheek. "did you bring uncle Lucas back with you, or is he visiting aunt Peyton?" Jamie asked innocently.

Nathan grew sad, you could see it on his face. Haley's too.

"baby, Lucas isn't home yet." Haley brushed Jamie's hair out of his face.

"you mean he is still in Iraq?"

Nathan and Haley nodded.

Jamie began to tear up. "will I ever see him again?" Jamie asked, pleading with his eyes that the answer was yes.

Nathan couldn't take it anymore and he walked outside.

Haley was about to go after him, but then saw Jamie. She didn't know what to tell the poor boy, she definitely couldn't lie to him.

"You know Jamie, uncle Lucas is doing everything he can to come back to us. But just remember he is always right here." She pointed to his heart. Jamie nodded sadly and fell into his mom's arms.

Nathan went for a walk and ended up at Keith's grave.

-FEAR- a four letter word that haunts us all. Franklin Roosevelt once said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." Fear is scary, we all try to escape it. When it all comes down to the point where fear is the only thing taking place in our life, what will save us? The answer is love. The slightest bit of love, can give us all the hope in the world.

Iraq…………

They had been driving for days, no idea where they were going. Lucas was exhausted and he found out that it was getting a lot harder for him. Regularly he would feel pain in his chest and it would be hard for him to breath. This worried Chase. He knew that they could both die, but the thought of Lucas dying because of his HCM instead of at war killed him.

All of a sudden there were gun fires. Out of instinct they ducked inside the van. The next thing to happen was a blur. The only thing that Lucas remembered was a loud explosion and then everything went out from there.

Tree hill………

Haley was at Peyton's house with Jamie. She had to get out of the house, Nathan hasn't been the same ever since he came home.

"I don't know what to do Peyton. He won't talk to me, all he does is sit in a chair by the window and stares out. What am I going to do? It isn't supposed to be like this." Haley let it all out. The tears that were threatening to fall all week, she finally let them out right there.

Peyton put her arm around Haley. "Haley, I'm not going to lie to you and say I know what your feeling, because I don't. But what I do know is that, you can't give up. Nathan went someplace that we only have nightmares of. I think he just needs time, time to get it all together and get used to his life back here."

"I know, I'm just scared he is never going to come back." Peyton didn't know what to say back, it was hard enough having to have her two best friends hurting and her fiancée MIA. She cried everyday, but not right now. Right now she had to be strong for Haley.

Naley house…….

_I can't remember anything  
can't tell if this is true or dream  
deep down inside I feel to scream  
this terrible silence stops me _

Nathan sat there in his own thoughts, he thought back to the day he was separated from Lucas.__

now that the war is through with me  
I'm waking up, I cannot see  
that there's not much left of me  
nothing is real but pain now 

Tears are streaming down his face, he just wishes he could go back to that very moment, and not leave Lucas. His heart was filled with regret and pain; he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to be here anymore. He sat there and remembered the time before he was pulled away from Lucas. _I promised Jamie, I promised Haley, I promised myself I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I'll follow right behind, I promise. _Nathan cringed at the thought. Lucas has never broken a promise.

FLASHBACK

"_are you scared Lucas?" Nathan asked him. They were shooting hoops at the Rivercourt._

"_yea I am, but I have something to hold onto and so do you, so we shouldn't let fear stop us from fighting." Lucas took a shot_

"_what do you mean?"_

"_think about it Nate." They walked over and sat on the bleachers. "we have each other, family, love, __**light.**_" _Nathan gave Lucas a confused look at the last one. This did not go unnoticed. "we have light in the darkness, Nate. When everything goes black, we can either chose to see dark or light. I wouldn't even give it a second thought, I would chose light. Darkness has no answeres."_

END FLASHBACK__

hold my breath as I wish for death  
oh please God, wake me

It was as if Nathan became a new person. He stood up and ran out the door.

Iraq……….

Lucas' head heart. His eyes fluttered open and he reached a hand up to his head. As he pulled it back down his hand had a thick red liquid on it.

There was another explosion.

Lucas came back to realization to where he was. The van was upside down. He looked to his side to find Chase stirring.

"Chase come on wake up, we have to get out of here." He pleaded.

Chase jolted up.

"where is Lou?" Chase and Lucas looked around he was nowhere to be found.

"we have to get out of here. Come on." Lucas made his way out of the van, Chase close behind.

There was gunfire and bombs going off. They ducked and covered behind a building. They were in some sort of village. They kept on running, and ducking whenever there was more gunfire. They were almost to an exit when he saw her.

Lucas stopped dead in his tracks, Chase pulled his arm. "Lucas come on! We have to move."

The world around him seemed to disappear as Lucas let his eyes fall on a little girl. She was crying out for her mom, she looked only to be about 5 years old. Tears streamed down her face, as she held her head and ducked down to avoid being shot. Her eyes held only fear. Tears streamed down Lucas' face as he looked at the tragically broken girl.

A bomb exploded near her and she screamed in terror. Without hesitation Lucas ran to the girl, trying to avoid bullets wizzing by. Chase stood still in his spot.

Lucas reached the girl and picked her up into his arms.

"its ok, I won't leave you, I won't let you go." After another explosion, Lucas knew there wasn't much time. He made a run back to where Chase was. Completely covering the girl, shielding her from the evil in the world.

**A/N: Let me know what you think and pop a review in!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I have a lot of this story written out, so updates should be pretty often.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Tree Hill

"Haley?"Nathan banged on Peyton's door, shouting.

After a few minutes Peyton finally opened up the door, Nathan was about to bang on the door again and almost hit Peyton.

"ahh!" she screamed.

"sorry." Nathan gave her an innocent look. "can I please see Haley."

"I don't know Nathan, she is really hurting right now." Peyton said protectively.

"I know, and I want to help fix that. Please just let me see her."

Before Peyton could protest again, Haley appeared.

"watch Jamie for me?" Haley asked Peyton.

Peyton simply nodded and walked back inside.

"what are you doing here Nathan?" Haley asked angrily. A part of her was really angry with Nathan's behavior, the bigger part of her was just glad to see Nathan out and actually talking.

She is so beautiful, when she's angry. Nathan was lost in Haley's beauty. It was the first actual time he got a good look at her.

"Nathan! If your going to talk, talk, or else I'll just leave." Haley shouted.

Nathan was brought back to reality, how did things get so bad. "ok I know you have every right to be mad. I shouldn't have hit away and I'm sorry." Haley wasn't looking at him, she was looking down at her feet fiddling with her hands. He took his hands out of his jacket pockets and moved them to her chin to lift it up to look into his eyes. "Haley, I love you, you have to know that. I haven't stopped, Ive just been distant. I was so scared Hales, no one deserves to see what I've seen." He was being honest, and the thoughts of the past few months brought tears to both their eyes. "Haley please forgive me. I want you to come back home, I want to be a family again." He kissed her forehead.

Back inside………

"hey Jamie you ok?" Peyton asked, Jamie was sitting on her lap.

"no." he said sadly and quietly.

"what's wrong buddy?" Peyton knew what was wrong, but she wanted to get him to talk.

"I miss my dad."

"but he is home."

"that isn't my dad. My dad loves me." He said now tearing up. "my dad loves basketball, and loves to play with me."

It broke Peyton's heart to hear this little boy say those words.

"your dad is still in there, somewhere. Maybe you should go see him. He is right outside." Peyton rubbed Jamie's hair with her hands, trying to comfort him.

Just as Jamie was about to say something, Nathan and Haley walked back in.

Nathan took a look at Jamie, and saw how sad he was. It killed him that he was part of the cause of this. "hey buddy." Nathan said as cheery as he could.

Jamie's head jolted up, he couldn't help but be a little frightened, he didn't really know his dad anymore.

Nathan walked closer. Jamie flinched In Peyton's arm, and held her tighter. Nathan hid the pain inside from his sons actions.

"Jamie it's ok." Haley smiled.

"mommy, your smiling."

"I always smile Jamie."

"no, you're really smiling." Jamie looked at his dad. "daddy?"

"yea Jimmy jam?" Nathan didn't even think about the name he used. But to Jamie that meant everything, he was using his nick name again.

Jamie jumped off of Peyton and ran to his dad. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, buddy." Nathan held his boy tight.

They didn't notice but Peyton slipped away back to her room. Actually Lucas' room, but she stayed there just for comfort. She took out the last letter that Lucas wrote to her. She began to read it out loud, just like she did every night. She read it out loud, partly because it helped her, and she wanted her baby to hear it.

_Hey beautiful,_

_You know who I'm thinking about? YOU! You know I love you, and that I will never truly leave you. I can't wait till I get home, I can marry you, and we can start a life together. _

_Nothing has changed, it's still pretty miserable. Only cause you aren't here. My favorite time of day is when I go to sleep. Because I get to dream about you and everything that is good in my life. How have you been doing?_

_I'm sorry I have to stop writing, but you will hear from me soon again. I'm sorry that I am here and not there, but know that I will never truly leave you, because I'm always in your heart, you have my heart._

_True love always,_

_Lucas_

_P.S. __Forever and ever, we'll never be apart. Just close your eyes, baby…I'll be in your heart. I love you._

She smiled through her tears as she finished the last line. She unconsciously rubbed her tummy the whole time throughout the letter. She set the letter down and touched her hand to her heart. Around her neck was a heart shaped locket. She opened it, and a picture of them was inside. She folded the small piece of paper back up and put it inside the locket.

-It has officially been 8 months and 4 days……

"Brooke, Haley, somebody!" Peyton screamed from her office.

Haley and Brooke just walked in Tric, they heard Peyton scream and bolted to her office.

"P. Sawyer what's wrong?" Brooke asked very worried.

Haley couldn't breathe she ran so fast, so she just nodded along with Brooke.

"I think.." Peyton was breathing really heavily. "It's time."

Haley looked on the floor by Peyton and there was water all over. "yea, we gotta move!" Haley shouted. She took out her phone. "Nathan I need you to pick up Jamie and bring him to the hospital, no questions just do it!"

"come on P. Sawyer, lets get you out of here." Brooke walked over to Peyton and helped her up.

A little bit later Peyton is in a hospital bed. She started to cry.

"P what's wrong?" Brooke walked over and took her in her arms.

"I wanted so badly for Lucas to be here." Tears were streaming down her face. "It's our first baby, he would have wanted to be here. I don't know if I can do it without him." She couldn't control her sobs.

"Peyt, Lucas is always with you." Haley tried to comfort Peyton. "remember, he is always right here." She took Peyton's hand and her hand and laid it over Peyton's heart.

Peyton nodded and grasped the locket.

Iraq…………

"Chase, how are you doing?" Lucas asked. No answer. He turned around and there wasn't anyone following him. "Chase." He breathed out and he ran back the way he came.

Back home…….

"you did it Sawyer!" Nathan hugged Peyton.

Peyton nodded through her tears.

"She's beautiful Peyt." Haley walked over and also hugged Peyton.

"whoa is that my new baby cousin!" Jamie asked with much excitement.

Peyton nodded and smiled brightly. "come here Jamie." Jamie walked over to the bed. "now, I don't have a name for the baby yet. I'm not going to give her a first name yet, at least not until Lucas comes home. But I do want to pick a middle name." she unconsciously rocked the baby back and forth. "what do you think about the middle name Michelle?"

Jamie's smile went from ear to ear. "I like it!" he said cheerfully.

"I like it too, but are you sure she wouldn't like the name Brooke better?" Brooke joked.

"very funny, I think she would love that name. But I want her to have her own identity." Peyton looked down at her beautiful girl. "soon you will have a full name, and your daddy will be home." Peyton whispered through tears.

"come here." Nathan hugged Peyton. It was hard at first but Nathan worked it all out. He had been going to counseling and Haley had been supporting him 100.

"Well P. Sawyer, you know I love you, but Ethan asked me out and said it was really important so…" Brooke hesitated, she didn't want to leave her best friend.

"It's ok Brooke, I got plenty of company here." She smiled.

"thank you P!" she ran and gave Peyton a hug. "I'll see you later, little one." She kissed the baby on the forehead.

Iraq…….

"Chase!" he shouted, he had no idea where he was. Lucas ran, still trying to keep control on his breathing. He spotted some blood on the ground and stopped. He heard heavy breathing and turned to the side. "don't hurt him!" Lucas said frantically.

Chase was in the arms of an Iraqi soldier with a gun to his head. "then keep moving." The soldier shouted.

**A/N: the reviews last time made me smile!! Please review again, and let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Brooke was just checking herself in the mirror, when there was a knock at the door. She started to get excited, she knew exactly who it was.

She skipped over to the door happily and opened it. "Ethan!" She jumped into his arms and kissed him on the cheek.

"hi babe, ready to go?" he stood in his tracks, thinking about the events that would happen tonight.

"you bet I am." She noticed he was just standing there. "are you ok?"

"yea, I'm fine. I have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"no, but you have now." She smirked and they headed on to a restaurant.

At the hospital…………

Peyton was fast asleep in her hospital bed, still exhausted from giving birth. Nathan was sitting in a chair by the window holding the little one. Since she doesn't have a first name yet, they called her Michelle.

"you're so beautiful little one." Nathan cooed to Michelle. She was beautiful. She was a tiny baby, weighing in at 5 pounds 6 ounces, and about 15 inches long. Her skin was beautiful and she had her dad's blue eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't stay back and save your dad, but I promise, he will come back home." How could he promise something like that? He just needed to convince himself that Lucas was coming back.

"Until he comes home, you will always be safe with me ok." Tears started to sting the back of his eyes. "I will always protect you, I love you." He kissed her forehead and continued to rock her.

Dinner………

Brooke and Ethan were sitting at a nice Italian Restaurant just outside of town. They had just finished their meal and were talking and enjoying each other's company.

FLASHBACK

_Brooke and Ethan had been spending quite a bit of time together._

_He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard, he was about to pour himself a cup of coffee…_

"_ahhhh Shit!" Peyton screamed. She grabbed the closest item to her and held it up threatening to hit whoever was in front of her._

"_Peyton relax, it's just me." He held up his hands in defence._

"_you scared the Hell out of me. What is this the 5__th__ time in a row?"she gasped._

_He chuckled "yea, Ive been spending a lot of time here._

………_._

"_so there is this banquet for work, would you be interested in going with me?" Ethan asked Brooke._

"_you mean, like show me to your work friends?" she asked_

_He nodded. "of course, you have become very important to me, and I want to show you off." He gave her a charming smile._

"_I would love to go." She kissed him on the lips._

……

_Ethan was sitting on Brooke's bed holding a note. She walked in and jumped half way to China._

"_Oh my God Ethan, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"_

"_when were you going to tell me about this? An ex still loves you, and your acting like its nothing?" Ethan spat out, he was really angry._

"_it doesn't mean anything Ethan!" she shouted. "and what are you doing going through my stuff!" she too grew angry._

"_I don't know, I was just looking for my watch and I found this on the floor! Why would you keep this from me?"_

_She walked up to him, not wanting to start a fight. "I didn't think it was important, chase left, and you're here now. That was a long time ago." She took the letter from him and threw it in the trash. "It's you and me now." She put her arms around his neck. "I love you Ethan."_

_He looked at her in surprise, she just nodded with a beaming smile on her face. "I love you too." He leant down and kissed her._

END FLASHBACK

Ethan pretended to drop his napkin. He got up off his chair and grabbed it, then got down on one knee in front of Brooke.

"Brooke, these past few months have been amazing and I wouldn't have done it any differently. I think I could live the rest of my life this way, and I plan to. Will you marry me, Brooke Davis?" He finished

Iraq…………………….

They had been walking a while when all of a sudden they heard gunshots. Lucas immediately grabbed Chase and dove into the dirt.

The soldier also ducked down but also looked around for the source of the shooting.

It kept getting closer and closer until they saw about 10 guys battling it out, it was 3 on 7.

Lucas and Chase were on the ground and couldn't see anything, they could only hope.

**A/N: ok I know really short! But its getting to the point where I need to write more. Before I said some of this story is written out, well we are now coming to the end of that and I need to write more. But I still update pretty regularly. Please review, you have no idea how much they motivate me!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Brooke looked at him in shock. _I wasn't expecting this._

"Ethan…." She started. His face fell. _She looked at him and saw his face, he really loved her. She had been waiting for this forever, and the past months have been amazing._ "..yes." she finished.

"what?" Ethan's face immediately perked up.

"yes, I'll marry you." Brooke smiled at him.

He smiled brightly and then slid the ring on her finger.

"I love you Brooke!" he said happily

"I love you too."

At the hospital……

_Lucas walked into the hospital. He sat in a hospital chair and grasped her hand._

_She fluttered her eyes open._

"_Lucas." She smiled brightly and tears instantly came to her eyes. "its really you!" she said relieved and she touched his face. _

_He didn't say anything, just squeezed her hand tighter and kissed her forehead._

"_can you talk baby? Are you ok?" She asked slightly taken back by lack of words. He smiled again and kissed her hand. He then brought that hand and placed it over his heart._

Nathan looked over and saw a smile come across Peyton's face. This made him smile.

"Lucas, talk to me!" she shouted.

Nathan got up and walked over to her. Haley was asleep by the window, Jamie in her arms.

"Peyton wake up, its ok, I'm here." He said reassuringly. It scared him, the sudden screaming from Peyton.

"what, where is Lucas?" she asked.

"he's still not here Peyton, it was just a dream."

Her face fell and tears welled up in her eyes.

"I didn't want to wake up from that dream." She started to softly cry.

Nathan took her in his arms and whispered comforting words in her hear. This still wasn't easy for him, but he had to be there for his girls.

_What was Lucas trying to say? _Peyton thought to herself.

Lucas heard a thud to his left. He glanced and saw that the soldier holding them had been shot down.

"Chase, we have to move!" Lucas whispered to him. Chase nodded and they started to crawl to a safer place.

They came to a place where they could see some of what was going on.

"Derek?!" Lucas though out loud to himself.

"what?" Chase asked, he didn't know who Derek was.

"Peyton's brother, Derek." Lucas motioned towards one of the American soldiers.

The two other soldiers were on the ground, not dead but injured. Derek was left, there were still 5 other I Iraqi soldiers.

"we have to help him." Lucas looked over to Chase.

"how, we don't have any guns." Lucas looked over to the dead soldier on the ground, he grabbed the gun and stood up.

The Iraqi soldiers had their back to Lucas and were focused on Derek. Lucas motioned for Derek to move.

He was surprised to see Lucas. What is he doing here! He has a heart condition, doesn't he? But he quickly went back to what was in front of him as a gun was fired at him, he was shot in the shoulder.

He fell to the ground and gripped his shoulder. Lucas and Chase took this time to take the enemies by surprise. They quickly shot 2 in the head and they died instantly, the others were quick enough to dive out of the way.

They both moved towards Derek still trying to fire at the other soldiers.

Chase was focused on one, while Lucas looked ahead to Derek. A soldier held a gun up to Derek.

"Derek!" Lucas shouted and jumped to save Derek……

-"Derek!" Lucas ran as fast as he could and dove to knock the guy over. A gunshot sounded just as Lucas tackled the soldier. The gun fell away and Lucas quickly grabbed it before the soldier. He fired it and the enemy was dead instantly.

Chase went to Derek, after shooting the last soldier. "are you ok man?" Chase asked, looking for something to stop the bleeding.

"I'm fine, where is Lucas?" Derek asked worried.

Chase and Derek looked around frantically. "Lucas!" Chase got up and ran to Lucas, he was on the ground, trying to control his breathing. Derek got up, wincing in pain, but did not stop until he reached Lucas.

"Lucas." Chase said, very worried and sad. "whats wrong?"

Lucas lifted up his shirt showing the bullet wound in his side. Chase and Derek gasped.

"we need to get him help." Chase said hurriedly.

Derek just sat there, didn't say anything. He watched as Chase ripped off part of his own shirt to put over Lucas' wound. He then looked straight into Lucas' eyes.

"why did you do it? Why did you take a bullet for me?" Derek asked confused.

"because…soon you are going to be my brother, and I like you Derek, I wasn't about to let you be taken away from Peyton." Lucas struggled to talk.

Derek eyes widened, he was getting married to Peyton?

"I think she would rather have you then me in her life Lucas, you can't leave her." He started to get teary eyed.

Lucas couldn't control his breathing any longer, and he gave into the pain into his chest. He slowly faded and his hand let go of Chase's.

"no, Lucas you have to stay with us." Chase shouted.

Derek had a few tears running down his face. "no one should have to experience this. Lucas isn't even supposed to be here. You aren't supposed to be out in combat."

"we have to get him out of here, where is the nearest base?" Chase asked, he did his best to hoist Lucas onto him.

"its about 5 miles, me and my guys were on our way there." Derek said as he too got up. "but chase, Lucas won't make it." Derek said sadly.

"there is always a chance, and I'm not leaving him here." Chase said confidently. He started to walk, slowly but he was moving, that's all that mattered.

It was a long and hard walk, neither Chase nor Derek had had any water for a while. But that didn't stop their courageous hearts from the possibility of going home again and saving their friend.

About an hour later…….

They were in sight of the base. The people in the lookout tower saw them coming and sent and ambulance out right away.

As soon as they got in the ambulance, Chase fainted from fatigue and Derek was being attended to. He never took his eyes of the man they were trying to revive.

**A/N: omg Im so sorry I posted the same chapter twice!! Haha my bad…. Well here is the real update! Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

-Iraq….hospital….

Derek was sitting next to Lucas' hospital bed. His arm was all bandaged up and in a sling.

"you shouldn't have saved me out there. I've been shot before; I know how to take it. No one should have to experience that." He knew Lucas couldn't hear him, but he just needed to talk to someone, and he didn't really have anyone else. "I know you don't have much left in you, but what you do have you need to hold onto. You need to go back to your family, your life."

FLASHBACK

"_beeeeeeeeeeeeep…….." the heart monitor went._

_The doctors ran into the room and headed over._

"_we're losing him!" one shouted._

"_charging to 100!" you could hear the doctor shout from the room where Derek was. _

_The hospital was cold and pale looking. Nothing happy was going on at all. There were wounded soldiers everywhere. It was as if, this were hell. It sure felt like it. Death going on around you everywhere, doctors moving from room to room trying to save anyone they could. This was not the place to be._

"_charging to 200!" the doctor shouted again. She pushed the pads onto Lucas' chest. His body shook from the charge, but still nothing._

_The doctor was about to give up._

"_one more." A confident nurse shouted._

"_charging to 300!" the doctor shouted one last time._

"_beep, beep, beep….."_

"_we got him." She said relieved._

END FLASHBACK

He wasn't waking up yet, but doctors' were constantly coming in and checking up on him just to make sure he was stable.

Someone appeared in the doorway.

"how is he?" Chase asked in a raspy voice. It was hard getting his voice back from lack of food and water.

"still the same." Derek looked up, Chase wheeled in on a wheel chair, he was still so tired, and it was hard for him to walk. "what are you doing out of bed?"

"being alone with my own thoughts isn't fun. I don't want to be alone anymore." Chase said sadly.

Derek nodded.

"mind if I have a minute?" chase asked.

"no, not at all. I'll just go get some coffee." Derek stood up from his chair and walked out.

"hey man, I need you back ok. We've been through too much to just have you leave now. Just get through this, give it all you got, and then we can go back home to love. It's amazing how much we take it for granite. I promise if you just come back that I will always be there for you, just like you were for me back there. Please don't leave me here alone." Chase had tears streaming down his face.

The war was a terrible thing to go through. No one should have to experience that feeling that you could die at any moment. That all your friends could get shot by just walking down a road. The memories will never go away. Can anyone make life better now?

-About a week later and Lucas was still in the same condition. Derek convinced the army to not contact his family until he wakes up. He was afraid that if Lucas did die, then their hopes would be lost. So they do not even know Lucas is safe.

Chase had been given the option to go home, but decided against it. He wanted to be there when his friend woke up.

"Captain Summers, the general is here to see you." Said a nurse. Derek stepped out of Lucas' room.

"you wanted to see me Summers?" the general asked.

"were you aware that Lucas Scott had a heart condition?" Derek asked accusingly.

"no I was not." He said calmly. "at least not before now. It must have been a mistake made by the people who check over the draft's files." He said, trying to help as much as he could. "I have to be going, I am terribly sorry about your friend." With that he left.

Derek was frustrated. Lucas wasn't supposed to be out in combat with that sort of condition. This could have all been prevented.

At Leyton's home….

Peyton was sitting on the couch with her baby in her arms.

"I'm sorry I haven't given you a name yet, but I want daddy to be here to give you a name." she kissed her forehead and went back to the photo album of her and Lucas. She wanted to make sure that the baby knew what her father looked like.

There was a knock at the door…

"come in!" Peyton shouted.

"hey P.Sawyer, how is are my 2 best friends doing?" she asked as she sat down next to Peyton.

"It's been good." Peyton said, trying to convince Brooke.

"oh honey!" she wrapped an arm around her. "Lucas will come home, and things will go back to normal."

Peyton nodded. "so how was your date?" she asked trying to change the subject.

This didn't go unnoticed by Brooke, but she went along with it anyways. "it went great. I actually have some news." Brooke, instantly got excited and held up her left hand.

"Brooke that's awesome! Congratulations."

"thanks."

In Lucas' hospital room…….

Chase was asleep in one of the most uncomfortable chairs he had ever slept in. He was dreaming…

_He was walking with Brooke and a baby past a cemetery._

_Brooke had a gold ring on her left ring finger, as did Chase. Brooke was pushing their little boy in a stroller._

"_give me a second babe?" he asked and kissed her on the cheek._

"_sure." She nodded, knowing every time they passed the cemetery Chase had to visit him._

_He walked up to a tombstone, with the name Lucas Scott written on it._

"_hey buddy, I miss you, we all do." He knelt down and touched the name. "I just wanted to say hi, and that I cant thank you enough for saving my life. I just wished that you didn't have to risk your life, in order to save mine." He paused a lone tear falling down his face. "Lucas Michael _

_Adams, is doing good. So are Peyton and your little girl." He now stood up. "I'll see you soon man." He walked away….._

Chase woke up to the sound of an obnoxious beeping noise. He groaned and then when he looked to Lucas lying in the bed next to him, stood up instantly. The obnoxious beeping noise, was the noise that was telling him his friend's heart was giving out.

-"Lucas?!" chase sat up frantically. "come on, man you have to hold in here." Chase shouted as the doctors rushed in.

The doctors worked on reviving him, for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Lucas come on!" Chase was still shouting, the nurse started to push him out of the room. "you can't give up, you've held in there so long, you need to be there for Peyton!" he shouted from the doorway.

_Lucas was stuck in a cave, he had been for what seemed like forever. It was dark and musty. The walls were damp and there were bugs everywhere. You could say it was like Hell, but that would be an understatement. He didn't know how long he had been walking, in pure darkness, but something in his heart told him to keep going. _

"_somebody! Anybody!" he shouted that over and over again. "please, I just want to go home." He cried. _

_He didn't want to, but he didn't know how long he could carry on. He fell to his knees and grasped the side of the wall._

"_is it worth it?" he heard a voice, it sounded a lot like Dan's._

_The dark cave quickly turned into the hallway of the school, he saw Keith and Jimmy lying dead on the floor. He cried out._

"_no!"_

_It was then warped to the time when Nathan would harass him when he was younger. He looked away, from all the bad memories._

_The next thing, was of Jake kissing Peyton in his room. He looked at Jake and Jake had a smirk on his face. He ran at him, only for him to disappear and become the cave wall._

_He fell to the ground in a thud._

"_no, it's not worth it." He sobbed._

_He then heard another voice._

"_Lucas, you can't give up! You have so many people that love you, Peyton, she is waiting, still waiting for you to come home. You've been through too much and have too much to live for, to just let it get away." That was Chase._

_He was then brought to the day at the Rivercourt when they all signed their names. His arms wrapped tightly around Peyton and all of his friends around him. Enjoying a moment, a moment when everyone was actually happy._

"_fight it Lucas!" that was Derek this time._

_Lucas looked up, he saw a tiny speck of light. If there was a little bit of light in the world, the slightest bit of hope or the option to give up; what one would you choose?_

_Lucas got that spark back. That little spark was enough to ignite his heart and make fire. A fire that was burning so bright that it was hard to avoid; that fire, was the hope, all the hope and love he had left. But it was enough, enough to bring him home._

_He stood up and he started to run, not really knowing where he was going, but he ran; putting all his trust into that very flame that was in his heart._

The doctors gave up after many tries of reviving him.

"one more time." Chase said confidently. "just one more time, that's all I ask for. Please, I don't want to leave today knowing that if we had tried one more time, that he could live."

The doctor's saw his determination, and nodded. They brought the pads onto his chest one more time…..

**A/N: ok this was the last update I had typed out so now I have to come up with more updates! I would really love to hear what you have to say about the story, so please review!!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**-**Time seemed to slow down….

the doctor brought the pads to his chest…

"clear!" the doctor shouted, extra loud almost as if the shout was going to make Lucas' chance of coming back, better.

Chase and Derek both were standing in the doorway, intense looks on their faces; filled with hope, sadness and millions of other emotions.

As the paddles pressed into Lucas' chest, his chest burst upwards.

_Time….how long does it take to save life…how long does it take to get over a friend's or a loved one's death…how long till we finally except that they are gone…only time will tell. But one thing is for sure, the road with death is a long and difficult road. It's not happy, its mostly paved with sorrow and sadness. Sometimes we think there is nothing to hold onto, but…there is always something. No matter what it is, there is always something there._

_Lucas was breathing heavily, he had no clue where he was or where he was going, but he knew that he still needed to hold on._

Only seconds had passed, but to everyone else in the room it seemed like hours. They were all anxiously waiting for him to respond, but still nothing.

"ok I'm calling it." The doctor said sadly

_All of a sudden Lucas wasn't in a dark cave anymore, all he could see was a bright light. A smile came to his face, a genuine smile of happiness; he knew from that moment, that he could finally go home._

"_never lose that faith." He heard a little girls voice say._

"9:03 PM…" the doctor was interrupted by a beeping noise.

The heads darted to Lucas and his heart monitor, it gradually started to get normal. Lucas was coming back.

His eyes fluttered open, but then immediately he closed them because of the brightness of the hospital.

"lucas." Chase breathed out.

This time Lucas opened his eyes slower but tried his best to keep them open. "hey man."

He put on the best smile he could. He tried to sit up, but cringed in pain when all the wounds in his body erupted at once.

The doctors checked to make sure Lucas was ok and then they silently cleared the room.

Chase and Derek both walked over to the bed and sat down in the plastic chairs.

"can we go home now?" lucas asked, trying to lighten the mood.

They all laughed. Lucas of course laughed, then quieted down as he felt the searing pain.

"as soon as you can get up on your feet on your own, we will take you home." Derek promised.

Lucas nodded and then his face braced himself for what was coming. He used all the strength he had just to lift his body up part way.

He winced in pain.

"whoa tiger, you should rest before you try that." Chase stood up and helped Lucas back down. "don't worry, the more you rest, the faster you heal."

"yea, Lucas." Derek laughed at Lucas' determination. "so umm, do you want to call Peyton?" he asked hesitantly.

"I know it's selfish, but I want to see her face when she finds out I'm still alive." Lucas said honestly.

"ok." He nodded.

Peyton was sitting at her desk in Tric….

Haley and Nathan took Michelle for the day, so Peyton could get some work done. They insisted that she rest, but she didn't want to.

She heard a little girl coming up the stairs, she looked to the door.

"Jenny?"

**A/N: ok I know this is super duper short, but I wrote this update and figured I might as well put it up. I will try to make the next one longer! Good? Bad? So so? Well let me know and drop in a review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: ok I know I'm a horrible updater and this is super duper late. I'm sorry, things have been pretty busy for me lately. Not a lot happens in this chapter, its more emotional. But I enjoyed writing it and I don't know how good it is, so please let me know what you think!**

-about two weeks later…..

Lucas stepped foot on the Rivercourt. He was finally home, where he belonged, where he wanted to be, where he needed to be.

He hadn't gone to see anyone yet. He really didn't think about it, but as he got home, he started to get nervous about seeing everyone again. What if they decided that he was dead? What if Peyton moved on?

As he was sitting in his own thoughts on top of the picnic table, he heard footsteps behind him.

He turned to see the curly green eyed blonde he had fallen in love with.

She sighed as she shifted her car into park. She hadn't been here in a while, it was too hard. She started to slowly walk onto the court, she looked up and her eyes met his beautiful blue ones.

"Lucas…" she breathed out…..

_FLASHBACK_

"_Jake? What are you doing here?" Peyton asked surprised._

"_I came to see everyone, I just wanted to visit for a little while." He said walking in._

"_is that what your really back for? Or are you going to leave right away again?" she asked bitterly. _

"_I know what I said before." He paused moving closer. "but I want to fix that."_

_They sat in silence for a little longer._

_Jenny was exploring the room and she spotted a picture of Peyton and Lucas._

"_where is Lucas?" she asked._

_Peyton looked at the girl and then at her shoes to hide her face._

"_he is in Iraq." She couldn't help it, she had to let the tears fall._

_Jake walked up and wrapped his arms around her._

"_I miss him so much, I just want him home again." She said through her tears._

_END FLASHBACK_

-She was still silent, she definitely saw the man in front of her, but she didn't know whether to believe it was him or not. She had had so many dreams; so many times she had thought he was right in front of her, but it turned out it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

He stood up and slowly and hesitantly walked over to her.

Each step he took felt like a lifetime. Time seemed to move in slow motion.

She stood still, glued to the spot on the court. She never took her eyes off of him, as she saw him move closer and closer.

He stopped a few feet from her; Blue and green eyes staring directly into each other.

They stood still, afraid to move; afraid that if they did move, the other person would disappear.

After a few minutes Peyton finally made the first move. She reached her hand up to his cheek. She flinched when she felt his skin, _is this really him?_ She took a step closer and used her hand to trace the features of his face.

Lucas stood still, just looking in her eyes; accepting her touch gratefully.

Since he was wearing a button up shirt, she slowly moved to unbutton the first button. She moved it away to examine his chest, and then she saw it.

_In all the dreams she had, when she went to remove his shirt, the scar was not there. That is when she realized, that it was a dream._

She brushed her finger softly against the scar in the shape of a heart on his chest. She looked up to his eyes again and she looked deeply; trying to find something to make this all real, she just needed one more thing. Then she found it, she saw that spark in his eye, the one he only had for her; the spark that showed her how much he loved her, and that he was always there.

When Lucas felt her stop and stand still again, it worried him.

"Peyton?" Lucas asked hopefully.

Tears started to run down her face, and there was nothing stopping her from believing he was real. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him.

He replied by wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, to show that he wasn't going anywhere.

He felt her warm tears, and it wasn't long before tears of his own started to fall from his eyes.

"I love you Peyton." He cried. "It's me, I promise, it's really me, I'm back." He just wanted to verbally assure her that he was there.

She pulled back and smiled lightly. She brought her hand to his cheek and cupped it.

Her small smile brought an even bigger smile to his face.

That triggered her to smile from ear to ear.

"I love you too." That is when she finally let go of all her fears, she brought her lips onto his and gave him a kiss he would remember forever. It wasn't full of desire or want, but of love, passion, and happiness. Lucas was finally home, and no matter what was to come, she was there with him always.

-Peyton and Lucas silently drove to Nathan and Haley's house. Lucas didn't know, but Haley was watching _his daughter_, while Peyton did some stuff by herself.

They hadn't said a word to each other the whole car ride, partly because they were afraid that if they said something, it would all disappear. Another part of them didn't really know what to say. Lucas was still consumed with the memories of the war. It was tearing him a part, though he didn't show it, and he needed somebody to save him.

They finally arrived at the house. Peyton took a deep breath and then turned to Lucas. He too turned to look at her.

Her eyes found his and she wasn't sure yet, but she saw something. Something that wasn't the same.

"are you ready?" she asked quietly. She reached over and grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze to let him know that she was there.

He nodded.

They stepped out of the car and hand in hand walked to the door. She turned the knob, and noticed it was unlocked so they just walked in.

Haley was looking at a photo album with Jamie; they were flipping through all the old pictures of high school.

"uncle Lucas?" Jamie shouted.

Haley was looking down at the pictures. "yes, Jamie that is uncle Lucas." She said sadly, staring at a picture of them in sophomore year.

"uncle Lucas!" Jamie shouted again and then jumped off the couch to run and give him a hug.

Lucas bent down and picked up the little boy in his arms; Jamie wrapped his arms around Lucas' neck and hugged him tightly, as if he was never letting go.

"Jamie where did you go?" Haley asked after she took her gaze away from the picture to look up. The photo album fell from her hands as she saw the man standing in her house. Her best friend, the one she had known for so long.

"Lucas." She breathed out through tears. She couldn't believe it, he was really back. She got up from the couch and ran to him. Jamie was still in his arms, but she embraced him anyways. "you're back, you're really back." She cried into his shoulder.

"Haley!" Nathan shouted from the kitchen. He had just gotten home from lunch with Skills.

"in here." She barely managed to get out, she couldn't stop the tears from falling.

"Hales whats wro-.." He stopped mid sentence when he saw Lucas. He didn't do anything; he just stood there and stared. Why couldn't he move? "Luke. Is that really you?" He had to make sure, he had to know it was Lucas. As soon as he saw Lucas nod he slowly walked forward and pulled Lucas in for a hug. He didn't care who saw; he wanted to hug his brother; he needed to hug his brother; he missed his brother.

After a few minutes of just silence, little baby was heard crying from upstairs.

"I'll be right back." Haley said . She gave Peyton an unsure Look. Peyton nodded toward her, telling her to go and get her.

As the crying filled Lucas' hears he couldn't help but cry. Everyone looked at him, they didn't know why he was crying all of a sudden.

"Luke, baby what's wrong?" she asked with concern. She pulled him in for a hug. He didn't stop crying, and he tried to speak but no words came out. She rubbed her hands through his air. "Luke, you can tell me, what's wrong honey?"

Nathan picked up Jamie and brought him upstairs. He wanted to still see his brother, but he knew something was wrong and that Peyton needed to be there for him right now.

"Peyton." Lucas finally spoke. He pulled away, tears still coming down his face. "Nathan and Haley have a new baby." He stated simply, she was about to cut in, but he kept going. "I want so badly to give you that, but I can't. Peyt I can't…I can't have kids anymore." He finally let out. His eyes were filled with nothing but sadness. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Don't hate me." He said softly.

She started to cry too. Not because they couldn't have any more kids but because the look in his eyes and the state he was in; though she did want more that didn't matter to her anymore, she just needed him and _their _little girl upstairs.

"oh Luke." She pulled him in a tight embrace. "come here." She grabbed his arm and pulled him off the couch. He didn't really feel like it, but he got up anyways. She lead him upstairs and into a room. Haley, Nathan and Jamie were in there. She took the little girl from Haley and brought her over to Lucas. He looked away; it was taunting him, reminding him of what he couldn't have.

"Luke, look here." Peyton said sadly and she grabbed his face with one hand. He looked back to her. "this is our baby." She said with a slight smile. "I got pregnant just after you left, this is our little girl."

Luke looked at the little girl and saw her green eyes, they were just like her mother's. He grabbed the babies hand and almost instantly she wrapped her tiny hand around his one finger.

"whats her name?" he asked softly.

"I don't have one yet, I wanted you to pick the name." Peyton stated.

Lucas looked into the babies eyes again and he didn't know what it was, but it was something.

"Grace." He said, just above a whisper, he didn't think anyone heard.

"I love it." Peyton said happily, but also quiet. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, she just wanted to reassure him she was still there.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! OH and if you would be so kind and leave a review I would love it! I will try and update sooner this time.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: Ok here is the next update, I know you are getting tired of me saying sorry, but I feel bad if I don't. So I am sorry once again. But I am almost done writing my other story so this one should come more quickly. Oh and if you guys have any ideas at all, feel free to pm me or put it in a review and I will greatly consider putting it in the story, I can't promise anything though.**

-_When you were a kid, did you ever have nightmares? Do you remember being so afraid that you called out for your mom or just something to hold onto? As kids, we never really think that adults can have nightmares or get scared. But they can be just as afraid as we are; sometimes they just need something to hold onto. _

"_Lucas!" Nathan shouted from far away. They had ran into a cave for cover and then separated when Lucas was shot. Nathan tried to follow his brother's voice, he wasn't leaving without him._

"_Nathan, it hurts so bad." Lucas cried as he laid there on the floor with a bullet into his side._

"_I know it does, just hold on ok. I'm coming, and we are going home." His voice got closer and closer._

_After a couple minutes, Lucas heard a few shots go off and then he didn't hear Nathan's voice anymore._

"_Nathan!" Lucas shouted. _

"Nathan!" Lucas was shaking furiously in his bed. He had beads of sweat in various places on his body and he was shouting.

Peyton soon woke up in fear. She was so worried about Lucas. He hadn't spoken much since he had been home; he was distant, not like he used to be. "Lucas." She grabbed onto his arm and tried to shake him awake. "come on Luke wake up." She shook him harder this time. He kept on shaking and would occasionally call out in pure fear. It broke her heart hearing his helpless shouts. "Lucas, everything is ok, I'm right here, everyone is safe." She brought her face down to his ear and whispered. "everything is ok, it's just a dream." Tears started to stream down her face, she was so worried about him.

"_shut up!" a soldier yelled and he pulled out a gun and shot Lucas._

With that he jolted up, making Peyton almost jump off the bed. He was sweating and breathing heavily; his eyes were wide open and he looked so scared.

Peyton reached out and wrapped both her arms around his chest. She hugged him tightly and placed light kisses on his shoulder. After a few moments of just sitting there she slowly lowered him down on his back. She moved her body, so her head was rested on his chest and part of her top half covered his torso.

"it's ok, it was just a dream." She kept whispering reassuringly to him. "I'm here Luke, I'm not going anywhere." She placed a kiss on his chest and then laid her head back down. After a while she felt a strong arm slowly snake around her; after that sleep consumed them both. There would be no more nightmares for that night, they both felt safe, at home, where they needed to be.

Brooke heard a knock at the door. "who could possibly be here at 3 in the morning." She moaned as she trudged to her front door. She took a look through the peep hole and gasped, she suddenly wasn't so sleepy anymore. She immediately opened the door.

"Chase, what, how?" she asked breathlessly.

He stood there with his hands in his pockets and an innocent look on his face. He went to her house that night with confidence. It wasn't exactly the best time, but he needed to tell her how he felt in person and see if maybe she felt it too.

"I'm back." He said simply.

She nodded as the tears that stung her eyes finally fell. She walked hesitantly closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you." She said softly. She pulled away and her hands slowly fell down his arms, the sudden contact made him look down and then he saw it.

"you're getting married?" he asked, trying not to sound disappointed.

"yeah, it's been great with Ethan." She said smiling lightly to herself.

"congratulations, I'm happy for you." He said in the best way he could. "well I'd love to chat, but I see your tired and I'm a little tired, so I'll see you around I guess." He gave a small nod and smile and then turned around and left.

"wait that means Lucas is back." She said happily, thinking about how happy Peyton must be.

_Fears are all around. What do you hold onto when your afraid?_

-Peyton started to stir in her bed; when she didn't feel the strong arms of Lucas around her, her eyes fluttered open. She sat up and looked around her bedroom. He was nowhere, this worried her. She got up and walked to the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth, and then she went on her hunt for Lucas. She heard the water running in the kitchen, so she headed on over there.

When she saw him her feet all of a sudden were glued to the floor. He was standing over the sink, with tears running down his face. Next the sink was a white towel, with blood stains all over it. Once the clear water it his flesh it trickled into the sink as a light pink color.

"Lucas." She breathed out, she couldn't believe it. _Was he really doing this? NO. this wasn't him, this was never supposed to be him._

He quickly turned his tear stained face to meet hers. "I was cutting a bagel and the knife slipped from my hand." He said quietly. He tried as hard as he could to come up with the best excuse. He tried to stop his face from scrunching up in pain.

She slowly walked over to him and stood next to him at the sink, she shook her head. "Lucas we don't have any bagels." She let out in fear. Tears started to form in her eyes, and they slowly started to escape her beautiful green eyes.

He looked away from her eyes, defeated. "yeah, I meant bread." He tried to come up with quickly.

She shook her head with sadness. "no you weren't Lucas, there is no bread out." She cried out softly. She took his left wrist and saw two deep cuts. She took the washcloth and held it up to his wrist, trying to stop the bleeding. As the cloth hit his skin he winced in pain, still refused to look at her. She cried harder as she heard him cry.

She quickly went under the sink and took out the first aid kit, she got a bandage and put it over his wounds. After she took care of his cuts she brought her hands up and gripped the side of his face. "Lucas why did you do this?" she cried. His eyes were still fixed away from hers. "Look at me. Look at me Lucas!" she shouted. He was shaking, but after a moment his eyes slowly found her. "you don't have to do this. I'm here, I am right here. You are not alone."

More tears started to run down his face. He shook his head. She gripped his face harder and this forced him to look right into her eyes. "I love you, so much. Let me help you, talk to me Luke." She pleaded. "I need you to talk to me, I feel so far away. Why won't you let me in?" she cried, laying a hand over his heart.

"because I can't!" he shouted and threw her arms off of him. This made her jump back in fear. "you don't know what I had to go through! You don't know what I've done." He shouted. She looked at him and saw the fear and pain in his eyes. The veins on his neck and the side of his head were popping out.

His lash out frightened her and she took a few more steps back, but never taking her gaze off of him. "if you knew what I've done, you wouldn't love me anymore." He sobbed. She shook her head from side to side in protest, but still keeping her distance. "you're already scared of me Peyton." He said sadly, his hands motioned to the distance between them. "you won't love me after you've seen what I've done." He said sadly

"I love you, Lucas! I don't care what you've done, it doesn't matter." She pleaded for him to calm down.

"yes it does, I see it in your eyes, you're scared of me."

"no." she stated.

"yes you are!" she shouted moving closer to her, raising his hand up but then in the air he halted. She looked at him in fear. Jake came running in and tackled Lucas to the floor. "don't you dare hit her!" he shouted at him.

Lucas moved to get up and move to get to Peyton. Jake stepped in between them, facing Lucas. "no." Jake said protectively. No matter what, Jake wasn't letting anything happen to Peyton, the girl he loves.

"Peyt-.." he tried to push Jake out of the way and move toward her. Peyton just stood still, not sure what to do. Out of reflex Jake wound up and took his fist and rammed it into Lucas' face. Lucas fell back to the ground letting his left arm scrape against the cabinet. This took the bandage off and the deep cuts started to bleed even more.

He looked up at a shocked Jake, and frightened Peyton. All of a sudden, a babies cry was heard throughout the house. Lucas quickly stood up and moved around the counter to go get Grace. Once again Jake's reflexes took over and he punched Lucas in the stomach. Lucas screamed out in pain. He looked up and saw the fire in Jake's eyes. Hot tears started to stream down his face and he got up and ran out of the house. Where? They did not know.

-"Peyton." Jake said softly, moving to hug her. He wrapped his arms around her and she let him, she needed this right now. "it's going to be ok." He said softly. Peyton pulled away, and let more tears fall.

"I need to go find Lucas." She said whipping her tears. She moved to the doorway. Then jake grabbed her arm.

"no, Peyton he is dangerous. He almost hit you!" he tried to convince her.

"he wasn't going to hit me! If you would have seen before you tackled him, he brought his hand away. I have to find him, I need to find him, he needs me." She sobbed.

"Peyton, he is dangerous right now, to you and Grace, you need to stay here. I'll go find him."

"no, you can't, you just fucking punched him and he fell to the ground." She started to look around and then she looked to the floor, she spotted something. "Oh God, he's bleeding, his wrist Jake…he..he…he cut it and he's bleeding."

Grace continued to cry and Jake went to check on her, Peyton called Nathan.

"_Hello?"Nathan's voice was heard on the other end of the phone._

"_Nathan! Lucas…he needs your help, I don't know where he is. But he is not ok, he needs you Nathan." She let out quickly._

"_whoa Peyton slow down, what happened?" he asked concerned._

"_I don't know whats wrong, but he needs help. Nathan…I…I think he may be dangerous, I don't know what He's going to do." She said sadly._

"_ok, Peyton I want you to get Grace, and come over here. You can stay with Haley while we deal with this ok?"_

_Peyton nodded her head but realizing he couldn't look at her, "ok." With that she hung up the phone._

She moved quickly and got dressed. After that, she moved and went to go see Grace, who was still crying.

"she won't stop." He said concerned.

Peyton took her from Jake and tried to calm her. When she still didn't stop, she grabbed a light blue t-shirt from the crib and wrapped it around her. Almost immediately she stopped crying. Jake looked at her confused. "The first time Lucas held her, he was wearing this shirt. She clung onto it so tightly almost as if it was going away. Ever since she has slept with it, I think it gives her comfort, cause she knows its her daddy's. She is just a baby, but I think she knows." She explained quietly, not taking gaze off the little girl in her arms. Jake nodded in understanding.

After a short drive to Nathan and Haley's house, Peyton walked up to the door.

"hey Peyt." Haley said comfortingly as she wrapped her arms around her.

"have you found him?" she asked hopefully.

Nathan appeared and her hopes fell. "I haven't gone yet, I wanted to make sure you were ok first. Peyton nodded, telling him she was ok with his protectiveness.

"are you going to be ok here?" he asked as he pulled her in for a hug.

"yeah, thanks Nate." He nodded and started to walk towards his car.

"Nate wait, let me go with you." Jake started to walk after him.

"no, I'm sorry, its just, you don't know what he had to go through. You haven't been here Jake, for a while, I don't think its your place to do this." Nathan said honestly. "thank you, though. For helping Peyton, when I couldn't be there." Nathan got into his car and went on his search for his brother.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this update! And sorry they aren't as long, its just when I type it up on word it seems so much longer than it actually is. I guess I'll have to get used to that. IF you liked it, or didn't like it and think I deserve a review….pretty please review because I love them. And they make me feel good about my work, cause if I didn't have you guys and nobody reviewed, I would feel like a horrible writer that is just writing for their own enjoyment. So please review!! Thanks.**

**And BTW thanks for all the reviews! And for those of you who like to put anonymous reviews, I finally figured out how to turn it on, so you can post anonymous reviews now. Ok I'm done with my rambling.**

**TWEETIEBIRD I haven't talked to you in a while! Got any ideas lately?? I miss chattin with you.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: sooo….don't hate me! I know its been a while. I finished writing my other fic so this should be easier to get out updates. I hope you enjoy this long awaited update!**

-Nathan drove all around town looking for Lucas. He couldn't find him anywhere. The sun was going down and he was running out of time. He was so worried for his brother, this wasn't supposed to happen. If anything it should've happened to him, not Lucas; Lucas is stronger than this. He decided to make a stop at home, just to check in.

Meanwhile…

Peyton was asleep on the couch. After a couple hours of no word of where Lucas was, Haley told her it was best to take a nap. After all, that was the only way she could get Grace to settle down.

"hey." Nathan said as he walked through the door. His head was down and he had a distressed look on his face.

"where is Lucas?" Haley asked both concerned and surprised that Lucas did not immediately follow Nathan in. Nathan looked at her with sad and worried eyes.

"I couldn't find him." He said disappointedly. "I looked everywhere, I couldn't find him." Lucas hit the wall out of anger. "this wasn't supposed to happen!" Haley jumped at his sudden outburst, but then walked over to him.

"we never know what life is going to give us Nathan." She put a hand on his shoulder. "but I do know that we will find him, everything will work out." She told him reassuringly.

"it has to." Nathan said softly.

"We Scott's always seem to find a way to work things out."

"Lucas?" Peyton asked sleepily from the stairs.

Nathan and Haley both looked at each other. He told Peyton he wouldn't come back without him. She was now down in the living room.

"I'm sorry Peyton, I couldn't find him yet." He told her sadly. He got up from the couch and put his arms around her, as he sensed the tears that were in her eyes. "we will find him Peyton."

She nodded her head slowly against his shoulder. "I need to find him." She sobbed into his shoulder. He felt the wetness from her tears soak through his shirt, but he didn't mind. If this is what Peyton needed right now, he was going to help her. Haley walked over and also wrapped her arms around Peyton.

After a few minutes of sharing loving hugs, they pulled back and sat in silence for a little bit.

"are you hungry?" Haley asked.

"a little." Peyton replied barely above a whisper.

"ok, how about I order some Chinese." Peyton nodded. As Haley got up to go call for Chinese Grace started to cry, telling everyone that she was awake. Peyton stood, to go and get her but then Nathan stopped her.

"I'll get her, you just sit down ok?" He smiled at her and when she nodded he began to walk up the stairs.

She sat back down on the couch. It was so hard to relax with all the thoughts going through her head. Thoughts about doubts; they wouldn't make it, Lucas would never be the same, Lucas didn't love her anymore. She unconsciously played with the locket that hung around her neck, as she realized what she was doing, she opened it and took the note out. She began to read.

_Hey beautiful,_

_You know who I'm thinking about? YOU! You know I love you, and that I will never truly leave you. I can't wait till I get home, I can marry you, and we can start a life together. _

_Nothing has changed, it's still pretty miserable. Only cause you aren't here. My favorite time of day is when I go to sleep, because I get to dream about you and everything that is good in my life. How have you been doing?_

_I'm sorry I have to stop writing, but you will hear from me soon again. I'm sorry that I am here and not there, but know that I will never truly leave you, because I'm always in your heart, you have my heart._

_True love always,_

_Lucas_

_P.S. __Forever and ever, we'll never be apart. Just close your eyes, baby…I'll be in your heart. I love you._

When she finished the letter, some tears at fallen from her eyes and rolled down her cheek. All her thoughts about doubts seemed to go away slowly, with just the reading of that letter. She just needed to believe in what that letter said. She folded it back up and placed it back in the locket; as she shut it. She smiled to herself when she remembered the day she got the locket.

_FLASHBACK_

_It was a few weeks after they had just gotten back together, things were going great. They sat down for a nice dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant in town._

"_I got something for you." He smiled at her from across the table._

"_oh you do?" she said with curiosity._

"_yup." He smiled and stood from the table. "no close your eyes." She gave him a skeptical look and he chuckled. "come on, please?" he asked with the puppy dog pout and pleading eyes._

"_fine." She never really could resist the famous Lucas Scott eyes. No matter how hard she tried to stay on track, she always found herself getting lost in them. She closed her eyes and had a goofy smile on her face._

_He walked behind her and took a silver necklace out of his pocket. He gently unclasped the chain and then placed it around her neck, to then clasp it in the back. He walked back to his seat and sat down. "you can open your eyes now."_

_She opened her eyes only to be met with his. She couldn't help but smile at his smile; it seemed they were just very contagious tonight. She looked down and gasped at the silver heart shaped locket, hanging around her neck. She opened it only to be met with a picture of them inside. She closed it and just before she looked to him again, her eye caught something else. Engraved in the locket were the words MY HEART. She then looked up to him, a lone tear fell down her face._

"_you have my heart." He took his thumb and gently brushed it away. She reached across the table and placed a soft loving kiss on his lips._

_END FLASHBACK_

She still believed that was true. In fact, she wasn't ready to give his heart back yet and she wasn't going to.

-Chase had been walking around town for a while. He was thinking about Brooke; he did a lot of thinking about her lately. He didn't know what to say, what to do, he just wanted to be with her again. As these thoughts ran through his head, he wasn't concentrating on where he was going so, he ran into someone. "I'm sorry." He quickly said.

"its ok." He looked up suddenly, he could recognize that raspy voice from anywhere. He looked to the side and he found himself standing in front of Clothes Over Bros. "Chase?" Brooke asked.

"yeah." He laughed at his stupid move. "sorry, I wasn't really watching where I was going."

"yeah, I can tell." She joked. "wanna come inside?" she asked. She wasn't looking at him, she was busy unlocking the door, so she didn't even notice the look in Chase's eye when she asked him the come in. After successfully opening the door, she turned to him.

"uh yeah sure." He replied and smiled at her. He followed her inside and stood in front of the desk. "the place looks great." He said, admiring his surroundings.

"thanks." She was just setting her stuff down when she went and sat on a couch. "come and sit." She requested. He nodded and sat down next to her, but not to close; he didn't know what would happen if he got too close.

It was silent for a while; each of them in their own world, trying to make sense of it. Chase was about to say something before Brooke started. "I just wanted to say thank you." She said honestly, sincerity showing in her eyes. She continued, noticing the confused look on his face. "you stood in for Ethan, when no one asked you too. I can't thank you enough." She finished and she put her arms around him. "I'm glad you came back, Chase." She said.

He smiled, he loved giving her hugs and her giving him a hug out of the blue made him even happier. She pulled away and gave him a warm smile. "umm Broo-…" he began but then the door to the store opened.

"Hey honey." Brooke stood up and walked over to Ethan, enveloping him in a hug.

"hey babe." He returned the hug. He looked at Chase, curiosity striking him.

"well, I'll just get going." He stood to walk out. _Always the wrong time with us. _He thought to himself. He gave Brooke one last smile, a nod to Ethan, and then he walked out the door.

As he walked out, Brooke couldn't help but watch him. He was going to say something, but he never did. The wonderment of what he said took up her thoughts.

"I got Chinese!" said a familiar voice from the front door. Peyton looked up and she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Derek?" standing in front of her was her half brother. He nodded at her and then she quickly got off the couch to embrace him in a hug. "what are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

"Nathan called me." He said. "plus, I'm really worried about Lucas." He admitted.

"thank you." She said simply and she once again wrapped her little arms around him.

"how are you?" he asked, he hadn't seen Peyton in a while.

"ok I guess." She said quietly. He didn't believe one word she said. He was about to call her on that but then he saw Haley with a little girl.

"who is that?" he asked curiously.

Peyton smiled. "that's my little girl Grace Michelle Scott." She said with a proud voice.

Haley walked over and handed Grace to Derek, without him even asking for her; she just saw it on his face. He smiled at the baby and bounced her up and down, while giving her a kiss on the top of her head. "she is beautiful."

Chase walked into TRIC. He really needed a drink, and he wanted to see his friend Owen. He walked up the steps with his head down. Once he looked up, he gasped. Chase quickly pulled out his phone and called Nathan.

"hello?" Nathan asked on the other line.

"Nathan you need to come to TRIC now!" Chase shouted and then he shut his phone.

Nathan looked at the people sitting at the table around him. They were waiting for an explanation. "it was Chase, I think it's important." Nathan stated quickly standing up. He got into his car and started it. When he heard another car door shut, he looked up. "Peyton?"

"I know it's Lucas, and I'm coming with." She said sternly, she wasn't going to take no for an answer

**A/N: how was it?? Was it worth the wait?? Well let me know what you think!!!**

**Who loved Leyton battling it out last week?! Me! That was so cute, I laughed so hard at all their scenes, and other ones too.**

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews, I really appreciate it!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: yeah some things in this update I don't know for sure how it really goes. So if some stuff doesn't make sense, bear with me please! And sorry this update is really short, I will try to make the next one longer though! And if you read my other fic, the heart will lead you home, I will try and update that as soon as I can…that one is next!**

-Chase quickly walked into the situation that was in front of him. Lucas was really drunk and it seemed he was getting into a fight with some of the other people at the bar. Luckily there were only a couple people that day, if there were more, that would have been a problem.

"Lucas I think you've had enough to drink." Owen sounded concerned. All the times he had been around Lucas it was never like this. He always pictured a Lucas who was calm, and could take care of things maturely.

"no. Keep them coming." He said with a slur in his voice, but firmly.

Owen was about to pour him another glass, but then really looked at him. "come on man, let me take you home. Whatever's wrong, it shouldn't be dealt with this way." He set the bottle of whiskey back down under the bar.

"its none of your fucking business. Stay out of it!" he shouted. No movement. He looked at Owen seriously and anger flared in his eyes. "keep them coming."

"clearly he has problems." Another guy at the bar whispered to his friend. Lucas quickly turned towards them. He may have been whispering, but it was loud enough that Lucas could hear it.

"care to repeat that?" Lucas spat out bitterly.

"hey man, no trouble here." The guy stated back. When he thought Lucas wasn't paying attention he spoke to his friend again. "how much do you wanna bet a girl broke his heart." He laughed, the friend chuckled too.

Lucas stood up so fast and hard that the chair flew back and fell over. He walked over to the man, furry in his eyes. "why don't you learn to mind your own business!" he shouted in his face as he pulled him up from his seat by his shirt collar.

"hey man, settle down ok." At his first words, Lucas took a swing. It hit him in the left cheek and he fell to the ground. The friend of the man stood; he was about 6 foot 2 and was pretty muscular. He brought his hand back, curled it into a fist and pounded it into Lucas face. He winced in pain as he fell to the ground.

"that's what you get." He shouted to Lucas. Lucas was now angrier than ever; he immediately jumped up and tackled the guy to the floor and started a brawl.

Chase and Owen both bolted over to the scene to try and pull them away from each other. Chase went for Lucas, while Owen went and tried to pry the other guy off. This however was an epic fail as they were both pushed to the side quickly.

"you know nothing about me!" Lucas screamed as he took another punch to the guys abdomen. He replied by taking his fist and punching Lucas on his right cheek.

---

Derek was mesmerized by his niece. He held her in his arms and just looked into her eyes with a smile upon his face. He never saw something so beautiful.

"you're beautiful you know that." He smiled as he brought his pinky to the Grace's small hand. She grasped on tight as soon as his pinky reached her hand. "you know, you're pretty strong." He chuckled and then his smile disappeared. "you should share some you're strength with your dad." He pulled her a little closer to him. "he is a very strong man." He watched as her expression changed. It was almost as if she understood him. "but even strong men need someone to save them."

---

As they walked up the steps to TRIC all that could be heard were shouts and things crashing to the floor. Nathan and Peyton gave each other a worried look and started to move faster. As they got closer, Nathan put a protective arm around Peyton, just in case it was dangerous.

"Lucas stop!" Peyton yelled from across the room. Nathan was already half way to Lucas by the time those words left her lips.

Lucas looked up at the sound of her voice. Owen and Chase were in the middle of trying to keep them apart. They didn't want to call the police, they were afraid that it would ruin Lucas even more; but they were now regretting that decision but became relieved when they heard the fragile voice of a certain blonde. When they all looked up, that was just enough time for the other two guys to make their move and jump Lucas.

"hey! Get off!" Nathan shouted as he moved closer and ripped both guys off of Lucas. Owen and Chase stepped in and grabbed them once again.

"break it up!" Owen shouted firmly.

Lucas tiredly looked back to Peyton again. She was stood in her tracks, about 20 feet away from him, in shock about what was happening._ Lucas didn't do stuff like this, he isn't this kind of person. _She thought to herself.

He slowly brought himself to his feet. He winced in pain as the punches that he had received before penetrated his body and left nasty feelings. Their eyes were still locked. When he looked into her eyes she looked horrified; he saw worry, confusion, but the worst one was, that she looked scared. A lone tear fell down his face.

She looked to his face, bruises all over and blood trickling from a cut on his head. She looked into his blue eyes and couldn't explain what she saw; but it was different.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. There was still no reaction from her. More tears started to fall down his face as he realized something; he became a man that scared her. He couldn't stand the thought of that. He took one last look around him and a sob escaped his throat. And then…he ran, he didn't know where he was going, but he just let his feet take him wherever.

-Peyton watched him run out. Her feet couldn't seem to move from the spot, it was like she was stuck to fly paper. Her heart was telling her to go after him but her mind was saying differently. To tell the truth, she was scared, and didn't know what to do. What do you do when your hero falls?

Nathan was about to go after him but then he caught a glimpse of Peyton. She looked scared and vulnerable. "Peyton?" he asked hesitantly. He walked over to her and placed in arm on her shoulder. "are you ok?" he was now getting concerned.

"I don't know what to do." She said barely above a whisper. The tears finally came to her eyes and she reacted to what just happened. "I-I do- don't know what to do Nathan." She cried.

"I'm going to go find him ok." He brought her to face him. "I'm going to go out and find him, are you going to be ok?"

"we will take care of her." Chase walked over and put an arm around her.

Lucas watched from a window as the guys all surrounded Peyton. It was unusual, but he was jealous. Never in his life would he be jealous of them; But why now? It was almost like this was not him; like something was taking over and he couldn't stop it, not on his own.

He ran all the way home. He searched the medicine cabinet and finally found what he was looking for; his heart pills. His heart hurt so bad, he just wanted the pain to go away. He emptied the contents of the bottle into his hand and shoved them into his mouth. He didn't even know how many he took; 5, 6 10?

---

He didn't know where to take Peyton, so he took her to the only place he could think of; Brooke's house.

A loud pound on the door startled Brooke from her thoughts. "I'm coming!" she shouted with annoyance. When she opened the door her eyes widened. "Peyton? What's wrong?" she quickly pulled her best friend in for a hug.

"I don't know what to do Brooke." She sobbed into her shoulder. Brooke looked at Chase over Peyton's head and mouthed 'thank you'. He nodded and walked away, knowing that they needed some time. Part of him was somewhat relieved.

After a few minutes of silence Brooke finally got the courage to speak up. "talk to me P. Sawyer."

"I don't know what to do." She said hesitantly. "I love him so much, but I don't know how to deal with this." Just as she finally settled down, more tears fell down her face. "he always saves me."

Brooke nodded against Peyton's head. Her head was rested on top of Peyton's as Peyton leaned on her shoulder. "maybe you should try saving him." She said softly, but honestly.

---

Nathan quickly ran to his car and straight to Lucas' house. He didn't know why, but he figured he would be there.

"Lucas?" Nathan shouted throughout the house. He was panting from running. He walked from room to room frantically, and then he saw him. "Lucas!" He rushed out the door of Lucas' bedroom and too his brother's side, he was lying unconscious on the grass.

**A/N: so what did you think?? Was it what you expected?? Good, bad? Let me know and drop those oh so wonderful things that are called reviews, they are amazing!**

**I'm so incredibly scared for leyton right now in the show!!!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: yeah…..have I ever told you that I'm known as the worst updater?? Like honestly I am, I am so sosososos sorry for not updating. But I found its easier for me to update a little everyday, so that is my new plan. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long to the point where you don't want to read and review.**

**So on a happier note….here is my update….**

-Peyton arrived at the hospital after she received the call. A call no one in the world should get; a call that a loved one is in danger. Man, she had been here too many times; Lucas had been in here too many times.

Brooke insisted on going with her, but Peyton told her to go to Haley's and check on Grace. She left no more room for argument as Peyton quickly walked out.

---

_Peyton was sitting at Brooke's, still in her arms. Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket and she was quick to pick it up. "hello?"her voice was tired and desperate._

"_Peyton…" Nathan said simply. His voice held fear and worry._

"_what is it?" her voice raised with fear._

"_its Lucas." He paused, already seeing the look on her face as he said those words. "you need to come to the hospital." He waited for a response, but all he got was a click; a click to tell him she had hung up._

_---_

"Nathan." She approached him in a rush. "what happened? Is he ok?" He looked at her sadly. She had been through so much lately. She was a very beautiful woman, but he had to admit she didn't look the best. Her hair had gotten longer and her eyes were red and puffy.

"he overdosed." He stopped when he saw her eyes widen.

"what?" she said in disbelief. "no, he doesn't do that. This isn't supposed to be that way." She started to sob into Nathan's chest.

"I know." He sat them down in one of the plastic chairs at the hospital. He let her cry for a little bit, also thinking about what he needed to say. "Peyton." He started. He wiped the hair out of her face and forced her to look at him. God, she looked so lost. "I know this is really hard for you right now. But you have to hang in there ok." She held is gaze, almost as if she was trying to find answers.

"how? How can I get him back?" she pleaded for an answer.

He pulled her into his chest again. "you know how Peyton." She looked up at him through confused and tired eyes. "you are the only one that can. And the way you do it is up to you, but I know you know how to do it. Just look here." He placed a hand on her heart.

"Lucas Scott?" the doctor called out as he walked into the room.

Nathan and Peyton both looked up. "yes." He spoke for both of them, since Peyton wasn't in the best state of mind right now.

"I need to talk to a family member of Lucas."

"yeah right here." His voice grew concerned.

"well, have you ever thought about getting Mr. Scott some help? Like Rehab?" the doctor asked honestly.

"what do you mean? I know he has nightmares but he shouldn't need rehab, maybe a counselor but not rehab." Nathan was confused; what was he talking about?

The doctor saw his confusion. "well, it seems Mr. Scott has been taking pain killers, vicodin to be exact. He was supposed to be off them a while ago, but we found some in his system along with about 8 other pills, for HCM."

"are you sure?" He challenged.

"yes, we wouldn't lie about something like this Mr…." The doctor trailed off.

"Scott."

"Mr. Scott, I'm sorry that you are just finding out about this, but I suggest you get him some help. If you would like, we can provide you with some information."

Peyton was silent throughout the whole conversation. She was too shocked to even say anything. Lucas really has a problem and that scared her to death. He was always the one to save her; he was her rock, the one that was always there. And now? Now, he seemed a million miles away. "can we see him?" her voice finally broke through the silence.

He looked at her sadly. He had seen her before many times. "yes, follow me. But for right now, it's best that we only have one person." Nathan stood up to help Peyton stand.

She looked at him, asking him a question he was already going to answer. "its ok, you go." He tried his best to give her a small smile. She wrapped her skinny arms around him and he wrapped his strong arms around her. "go save him ok." A single tear fell off of his face and landed on her head. All she did was nod against him.

She finally pulled away and gave Nathan one more look, before she followed the doctor.

---

"Nathan?" Chase asked walking in. "is everything ok?" Chase had grown pretty close to Lucas in the past year. They had been through a lot.

"I really don't know. I mean yeah, Lucas is alive. But everything isn't really ok." It was hard for him to say it, but it was the truth.

Chase nodded and took a seat by Nathan. "how is Peyton doing?"

"she just went to see him."

---

The doctor stopped suddenly and Peyton almost ran into him; she was too lost in her thoughts to acknowledge what was going on around her. She looked at the door in front of her. She stared at it for a moment, she was terrified to go in. She did want to see him. But that was the thing, she wanted to see _him_; the real him, the one that brought a smile to her face every time he scrunched his little upturned nose or kinked his eyebrow in the most adorable way. She really missed the real Lucas. Seeing him like this was partly a good thing and partly a bad thing. The bad part was that it would be so hard seeing him; the good thing is it would just make her even more determined to turn him back into the man he used to be.

"you can go in Mrs. Scott." The doctor said sincerely and then walked away.

He called her_ Mrs. Scott. _That sounded so good to her, she always wanted to be called that; she only dreamt of it. That was it; it wasn't reality yet, she wasn't legally _Mrs. Scott. _That thought killed her, but she was convinced it would happen, at least _someday. _

She walked in to see him sleeping softly on the bed. He looked tired, restless, and exhausted. She hesitantly walked over to him and placed her hand in his. This all seemed so familiar, like it had happened before; wait, it had happened, just a year before.

As she held his hand she couldn't help but notice that it didn't feel the same. It didn't have the same warmth as it used to. "ok." She spoke into the silence of the small room. "if this is how it's going to be I'm going to need your help." She choked out. Tears stung the back of her eyes and blurred her vision, it was like she was stuck in the fog and all she could see were the all the colors around her blending together. "I need you to fight ok. I need you to fight so we can be happy again." The tears began to fall, not fast, but they were still painful. She was tired of crying, she just wanted to smile again; wanted him to smile again. "so we can be us again." She spoke softly.

She looked down at him and just watched for a little bit. She was coming up with pros and cons to sending him to rehab. In the end, the pros outweighed the cons greatly, but it was still so hard.

---

Peyton walked back out of the waiting room. If she was going to heal Lucas, she was going to start now.

Haley, Brooke, and Derek arrived. The waiting room was silent when she walked in. Everyone just stared in different directions, lost in their own thoughts; but each thinking the same thing. Once Peyton's footsteps were heard, eager eyes looked to her.

"Peyton." Derek spoke sadly. He walked up to her and gave her a big brother hug. "are you ok?"

His voice was strong and deep, but his eyes told a different story.

She gave him a sad, small smile. Her eyes were puffy and red, and there was evidence of tears on her cheeks. "not really." She looked ahead of Derek and saw one thing. Her baby girl. "but everything is going to be ok."She tried to sound as confident as possible. If you knew Peyton, she was almost always negative. But that was only because everything that has happened to her, has almost always ended badly; or at least her mind only told her to remember those things.

Derek gave her a reassuring smile and then another hug. Even though not everything was going so great right now, it made him happy that Peyton was being this strong. He always knew she had it in her.

"hey P. Sawyer." Brooke walked up to her and put her hands on Peyton's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you." She then closed the distance and gave her a hug. "we are always here if you need us." She whispered comfortingly in her ear.

She simply nodded.

"umm Peyton, I know it might not be the best time but…." Nathan spoke hesitantly; he didn't want her to start breaking down right now. She nodded for him to go on. "have you thought about sending Lucas to re-rehab." He choked out. It was still hard knowing what his brother did.

She looked down; yes, she had thought about it. But she was more scared than ever. When she looked back up, she noticed everyone's eyes were once again on her. She already made her decision, as a matter of fact, it was already under way. "he is on his way right now."

---

_He began to stir in the bed. Her eyes shot to him in front of her. His eyes fluttered open to reveal his blue eyes; she quickly found them._

"_hey baby." She stroked his hand and gave her best smile. He looked up at her with his emotion filled eyes. They held so much; you could see hurt, sadness, worry and fear. She wanted so bad to take it away, take him away and just heal him; like he had done for her so many times._

_Their gazes were broken when someone came into the room. Both their eyes snapped to the doorway. "Miss, we are ready." The doctor stated and then stepped outside._

_His eyes snapped from the door back to her. This time they held all those other emotions along with another one; confusion._

"_Luke.." she started; how was she going to explain this to him. Unshed tears started to slip down her face. He followed them down to a booklet that sat in her other hand. _

_That was all he needed. His eyes darkened and he silently pleaded with her to not make him go. He shook his head and tears began to fall down his face. He knew he made mistakes, but he didn't think it would lead him to this._

"_I'm sorry." She cried as he pulled his hand away. "it will get better Lucas. I promise." He turned his head away. "I think this is the best thing right now, I can't help with your addiction." She used her shaking hand up to his face and pulled it back to face her. "but I can help you fix this." She placed the other hand over his heart._

"_I hate you." He shook his head and more tears fell down his face. "I hate you. I wish I died in Iraq." His words were harsh and they hit her hard._

"_Lucas."_

"_miss, its time."_

_She looked to the doctor and back to Lucas. She pleaded with her eyes for him to understand. "go, leave, make your saying come true." He yelled._

_---_

"we don't get to say goodbye?" Chase asked.

She looked at him sadly. "he isn't doing the best right now." She looked to her hand. She was fiddling with the locket that hung around her neck. "it was hard enough seeing him and I think it would just be worse if we said goodbye." She didn't look at anyone else. She didn't want to see the disappointing looks on their faces. She walked over to Grace and finally sat down. She cradled her in her arms and gave her occasional kisses on the head.

It was decided; She was going to do whatever it takes to save Lucas Scott; HER Lucas Scott.

**A/N: so…….do I get a review?? Cause you know I love them.**

**Sorry if all my medical stuff was wrong, but I'm not a doctor and from what I've read I try my best to make it sound realistic.**

**Do you guys what me to write Lucas in rehab, or do you want me to just do flashbacks?? If I did write about it, it would only be a little bit, but if you would like me to, I can write about it. So let me know!!**

**Thank you for waiting =)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: so I recently got sucked into the black hole of words in a book, called twilight. So I started reading those books and they are really good. So sorry this is long over due. But here it is…..**

-"hey, loopy." Came a gruff voice from the hallway.

Lucas looked up from the book he was intensely immersed in and smiled. "are you ever going to let that nickname go?" Lucas chuckled.

"maybe." He paused. "nope. Sorry loopy." They both fell into a fit of laughter.

"well maybe I'll have to come up with a better nickname then Whitey. Right?" he joked.

"sorry boy, you got nothing on me. I'm old, nickname's don't affect me anymore." He took a seat next to Lucas on the window bench.

"oh so you won't mind if I call you old fart, right?" he did his best to put on a serious face. He failed when he let a crooked smile escape; he was quick to put it away.

"watch it or I'll make sure they keep you in here for longer." Whitey challenged.

"well it would only help me." He said honestly.

"nonsense, you need to go home; to your little girl and beautiful lady."

---

_FLASHBACK_

"_well mom, we better get going. This one.." she tickled Grace in the stomache, "..is getting sleepy." Peyton had just finished talking to her mom. She liked to take Grace there every once and a while._

"_she is so beautiful." Whitey exclaimed as he saw Peyton and a baby at the cemetery. Peyton stood up and turned her head to the noise. An instant smile came to her face._

"_coach? Is that really you?" Peyton asked surprised._

"_nope, I'm just a spirit lingering in these here parts." He motioned around the cemetery._

"_yup that's you." She laughed. She walked up to him and with her free arm she hugged him as best she could. It had been forever since she had seen him. She stepped back and examined him, she still couldn't believe it. "look at you, handsome devil." This brought a laugh out of him. "I'm starting to think maybe I picked the wrong guy." She joked. This is how it was with him, she could make jokes like that and still feel comfortable._

"_sorry darlin' it never would've worked between us." They both broke out into laughter. Peyton couldn't help but let the laughter fall from deep in her. It had been a little while since she laughed like this. "so this is Grace, I'm assuming?" he held out his arms and Peyton handed her over._

"_yeah, this is my beautiful girl." She smiled at the sight in front of her; Whitey holding onto Grace and giving her occasional kisses on the forehead, just like a grandpa would act. "I'm assuming you talked to Nathan and Haley already." _

"_nope, you are the first." He looked at her and saw her confused face. "her daddy…" he was referring to Grace, "…told me all about her and you. Or at least all he knew about her." He looked down at the baby in his arms, she was beginning to fall asleep._

"_wait, Lucas?" she questioned. This definitely surprised her._

"_yup." She furrowed her eyebrows and he continued. "I was walking in the rehab center, visiting an old friend when I saw him." He paused remembering that day. "he looked real lost, so I walked up to him. I've been talking with him ever since."_

"_oh." Her face lowered and she stared at the ground. She still felt guilty about sending him there. She also hadn't gone to visit him. In reality, she really couldn't for 2 weeks, but the 2 weeks had come and gone and she couldn't bring herself to go. Even when she attempted he was in a therapy session so he wasn't available._

"_he doesn't blame you, dear." He assured her. "he just misses you, is all." He smiled warmly at her and lifted her head. Some tears had cascaded their way down her soft skin to land on her shirt. "you just have to be strong, and be there for him; it will all work out."_

_Peyton nodded, she had her doubts but in the end she always knew that they were going to make it._

"_you know there is never a time where I go and see him that he doesn't mention you." This made her smile and all the thoughts about him still hating her were deleted from her brain; almost has if she was the hard drive from a computer and the owner was deleting all the useless junk._

"_thanks coach."She was glad they came together that day. She needed this._

"_no problem." He handed a sleeping Grace back to Peyton and kissed them both on the forehead. "now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with the man himself." He smiled and walked away._

_END FLASHBACK_

_---_

"actually I'm going home tomorrow." The brightest smile came to Lucas' face as he thought about his 2 wonderful ladies at home.

"awww what am I gonna do every Friday then." Whitey faked his disappointment.

"well you could always talk to yourself." Lucas joked. "then I could call you loopy." He chuckled. He earned himself a slap on the back of the head from whitey.

"hey, no hitting the patients!" Carol shouted. Carol was a middle aged black woman that took care of some of the patients in the rehab center. Lucas was one of her patients, though he soon became like a nephew to her.

"sorry Carol, but he deserved it." He glared at Lucas.

"well what I meant was, you can't hit the patients, but I can." She walked over and held her hand up to hit him, Lucas flinched. When she came close she ended up giving him a giant hug. "is my Lucas going home tomorrow?" she sighed.

"'fraid so Carol." He tried to make a sad face but it soon broke into a smile.

"oh I see how it is, happy to leave me, huh?" she grabbed her heart, faking that she was hurt.

"no, I'll never be happy to leave you. I'm just happy to see my women again." She smiled and looked away.

"oh boy, happy looks good on you." His cheeks turned a light shade of pink, but his smile did not fade one bit.

Silence invaded the room. Lucas was gathering what he wanted to say to them, he didn't just want to leave and make them think that they didn't mean anything.

"I just wanted to thank you guys, for everything." He said honestly. "without you guys I don't think I could've come back."

"oh you would have, hun, you would've." Carol placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"maybe, but not as easy. So thank you." He looked each of them in the eye, giving them the impression that he was serious. He had only been here for a month, but within the first few weeks he was already feeling better again. These people played a big role in that.

They gave each other hugs and then Carol left due to the care for another patient. Whitey was just about to leave.

"well, you take care of yourself, son." He stood up as did Lucas.

"oh It's son now? I like that a lot better." They both chuckled and Lucas leaned in for a hug. "thanks so much Whitey. I get to go home to my girls because of you, to my family." A tear strolled down his face.

"I wouldn't let you stay here for too long." He pulled away and smiled. "I love you boy." With that he walked away. Lucas couldn't help but wonder if he would ever see him again.

---

_Lucas was sitting on the bed in his room for the 3 months. He was closely examining all the features of the room. It was boring; white walls with a small painting on the wall by the door, he guessed it was there just to give the room color. There was a small wood night stand with a lamp next to the uncomfortable bed with a pale blue comforter. In the corner of the room was faded red chair. "aren't people supposed to get better here?" he thought aloud._

"_yeah, that's our aim." A middle aged black women came in with a clip board. Lucas jumped a little, she came out of nowhere. "you must be Lucas." She looked up and gave him a warm smile._

_All he did was nod, he still was not used to the fact that he was in rehab; that he even had to go to rehab._

"_well I'll let you get settled in, you can put your clothes in the dresser over there. In about 10 minutes I'll come back and we can get you set up with a therapist." He gave her a look, he was obviously not excited about being here. "can I get you anything?" she asked. Lucas came here wanting to be a pain to everyone, but he couldn't help but notice the honest sincerity in her voice._

"_no thanks." He gave his best smile, it came out weak, but it was still a small smile. She smiled again, was that all she did? She then walked out._

_---_

The next day Lucas woke up a little earlier than he had to. He had a hard enough time getting to sleep last night with so much excitement, but he just couldn't bring himself to fall back asleep. He immediately grabbed his suitcase from the closet and began to fold his clothes and put them in. A smile was displayed across his face, stretching from ear to ear; he was going home today.

"I can see you got a jump start on things." Came a low voice.

Lucas turned to the doorway. "hey Mitch." Mitch was Lucas' therapist, he went to see him every day but Friday, that was his free day. He would usually visit with Whitey and then go to the gym inside the facility.

"hey Lucas, how are you doin?"

"good, just packing up." He closed the top drawer and looked up at him.

"the front desk told me you wanted to see me?"

"yeah, umm." He paused. "I just wanted to thank you. You know for listening to me and everything." He realized what he just said and explained further. "I know its your job, but it still really helped."

---

_It was the 7__th__ day of therapy. They still hadn't talked much, the other sessions were kept light._

"_so Lucas, how are you today?" Mitch asked._

"_good I guess." Was his only reply. He wasn't very fond of this place, it made him feel like he was crazy or something. _

"_did you have any dreams last night?"_

"_yes, more like nightmares." He replied coldly._

"_would you like to talk about them?" _

"_no." this is how it went every day. Lucas would reply with a little to no answer. Mitch would soon be more harder, but for right now he needed to go easy._

_The next day right before his session Lucas was reading a book on the window bench in the living area. _

"_hello son." _

"_coach?"_

"_yeah what are you doing here?" whitey was really interested._

"_long story." Lucas' attention turned back to his book._

"_I've got time."_

_Soon Lucas was talking at the sessions and the nightmares started to stop. It was all hard at first but as time wore on, it got better. People made him realize that if he didn't act, he would never get his life back._

_---_

"well I'm glad Lucas. You did great, and honestly, I'm going to miss talking to you." He smiled.

"yeah me too." Lucas looked down. What if something happened again? What if he was leaving to soon? What if he should stay longer?

"well here is my card." Mitch reached into his wallet and handed Lucas a card. "I don't think you'll need it, but if you ever do, don't hesitate to call." He smiled and shook Lucas' hand. "take care Lucas."

Wow he finally made it. Mitch even said he was doing great. That gave him the confidence he needed to say he is ready, ready to face the world again.

---

Peyton stood anxiously in the lobby. Grace was by her side playing with the toys that sat at the table. She could stand pretty well on her own now, they guessed it wouldn't be long before she walked, but Peyton thought otherwise. She was only 11 months, they don't start walking till 12-18 months. She watched her little girl play with toys, while unconsciously playing with the ring on the 4th finger of her left hand. Lucas was coming home today; what would he be like? Is he better? Does he still hate me? These where the thoughts that invaded her mind. She couldn't help it; bad thoughts always seemed to find a way into the mind, even though you try desperately to keep them out.

She was broken from her thoughts when she heard a heavy door open and close. She looked up with hopeful eyes; this must have been the hundredth time, but she had to look up every time, she just had to. Though this time her hope was not crushed by the presence of a stranger, this time the person that came through the door was a face that she would recognize anywhere; Lucas Scott.

He saw her immediately as he came through the door. He saw his two beautiful ladies in the corner, man they were beautiful.

She stood up; her eyes, filled with a green that you can't find anywhere else, met his icy blue gaze. How she missed those beautiful blue eyes that could penetrate her soul like no others ever could. She was about to walk over to him when she was stopped by the sight of her little girl. She couldn't just leave her by herself. She was on the move to hoist her up, when someone stopped her.

"go on, I'll watch her." Carol stood there, placing a gentle hand on Peyton's shoulder. "he's been waiting." She smiled and Peyton smiled back.

Tears started to develop in her eyes as her eyes found his again. She hesitantly took a step and then another until she was only about 15 feet from him. She didn't know how long, but they must have stood there for about a minute before anything happened. She was the first to speak.

"hey baby." She choked out softly. She couldn't believe he was standing right in front of her. It was like the day on the Rivercourt when he had just come home.

He didn't reply, he found that he couldn't. A few tear fell down his face as he opened his arms. This time there was no hesitation, she ran into his arms and embraced him. "I missed you so much." Tears were now streaming down her face.

"I love you Peyt." He said into her ear, tears were coming down his face too, and they weren't about to stop anytime soon.

A sob escaped her throat. She was so happy to hear those words. They left on not so good terms and now that seemed to all drift away. He was here and happy and holding her; that's all she needed. "I love you too." She pulled away and looked into his eyes, she then leaned in and gave him a kiss. It wasn't needy or harsh, but it was the perfect kiss for that moment; so perfect that you can't even give it words, and t

He didn't reply, he found that he couldn't. A few tear fell down his face as he opened his arms. This time there was no hesitation, she ran into his arms and embraced him. "I missed you so much." Tears were now streaming down her face.

"I love you Peyt." He said into her ear, tears were coming down his face too, and they weren't about to stop anytime soon.

A sob escaped her throat. She was so happy to hear those words. They left on not so good terms and now that seemed to all drift away. He was here and happy and holding her; that's all she needed. "I love you too." She pulled away and looked into his eyes, she then leaned in and gave him a kiss. It wasn't needy or harsh, but it was the perfect kiss for that moment; so perfect that you can't even give it words, and the only way you knew what it felt like, is if you were Lucas or Peyton.

They pulled away and leaned their foreheads against each other for a moment. They broke away when you could hear the light giggle of a small child. Lucas looked over Peyton's shoulder and Peyton turned to look.

Grace was looking at them with bright eyes and a giant smile.

Peyton grabbed his hand and pulled them over. Lucas stopped about 20 feet away, he was hesitant. Peyton walked ahead and grabbed Grace's hand. She was going to walk her over to Lucas, but Grace had other plans; she let go of Peyton's hand and staggered slowly over the Lucas, all by herself. She only had one mission: I gotta get to my daddy.

"I missed her first step?" he asked sadly.

Her eyes were only on him.

Peyton shook her head, she was so shocked. "this is her first one."

He bent down, more silent tears falling down his face. He opened his arms slightly and when she reached him she fell into his arms.

"I won't let you fall, Grace." He kissed her on the forehead and on both cheeks. He buried his face in her neck and sobbed quietly.

Peyton watched from where she stood and started to cry again. Her family was back; _her _Lucas was back

**A/N: so was this update ok?? Some wanted me to show him in rehab and some wanted flashbacks, so I tried to do a little bit of both. How was it though???honestly I need to know!! Haha**

**Sorry for not updating, I guess I'm just one of those ppl. I can't help it, its just hard for me to update so often. So sorry if my inconvenience affects you a lot. But I try to get it as much as I can.**

**Special Thanks to you all for reading and reviewing!!!!! (you know who you are! =)…)**

**Oh and this is not the end yet…….**


	20. Chapter 20

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: Please read!!!! ok ok I know this is super short! But I wanted to give you guys an update, because it has been forever. Sorry about that. You know how it is with me. Anyways I really need your guys help (if I deserve it) I really need you to help me come up with some more ideas that maybe you would want to happen. Or if you think this is a good place to end it. I am thinking I will still do the leyton wedding though. I just don't really have any inspiration or know what to write.**

-Peyton was lying comfortably on her bed. They didn't have sex last night, but she still had the best night. Of course she wanted him, but it wasn't the right time yet. They still needed to get back to how things were.

She looked at the clock at it was about eight in the morning. She had been up for an hour, but didn't dare to move. Her head was on Lucas' chest and his arm was wrapped tightly around her waist; exactly where she wanted to be. For so long this is how she wanted to wake up every morning. So many times it almost slipped away but once again it was back, and this time she wasn't planning on letting it slip away at all.

She was startled a little when Lucas shifted in his sleep. He turned to his side and Peyton fell off of his chest. They were now face to face, but he still held her tight. She couldn't help but let a smile grace her lips; he looked so cute right now.

After about 10 more minutes of him sleeping, she couldn't take it anymore. She was about to kiss him on the lips but as she leaned in he beat her to it. He went the extra distance and covered her mouth with his. This surprised her; in a good way.

"good morning baby." She said softly with a smile. She leaned back in and kissed him again, she wasn't finished yet.

"yeah it is." His smile radiated from his face. That is what took away all her doubts. All her doubts that maybe Lucas wouldn't want her anymore, that maybe he didn't love her anymore.

"look at you." She said in awe. She chuckled at the cute confused look on his face. "you're smiling again." She reached her hand up and placed it on his face. "I missed that smile. I missed you."

At her touch his eyes fell shut. He missed her so much; how she looked, the softness of her skin, the tenderness of her heart. He was so lucky to get it back, he couldn't live without her. Now he had another thing to add to the list; a beautiful daughter.

He gave her a crooked smile. "I missed you too." Though no words were needed, he still said them out loud. He wanted to reassure her that he really did miss her. He lay back on his back again, opening his arm while doing so; a silent request for her to snuggle in his arms. She happily obliged.

"I could stay like this forever." She sighed and sank into his embrace; his warmth. She meant what she said, she could stay like that forever, and she wanted to stay there forever.

He nodded in agreement.

They lay like that for a while, enjoying each other's company. Her left hand was placed on his chest. He unconsciously rubbed his hand up and down her arm lightly. The sun that appeared through the window, a glare came into view; the light was reflecting off of something. Peyton moved her hand a little bit as sleep started to overtake her. The glare disappeared and he looked down to the source of it; Peyton was wearing a ring on the 4th finger of her left hand.

He picked up her hand and a small smile graced his lips. She still had it on. He had almost forgotten he proposed, with everything going on. But now that something jogged his memory, he would never forget that day again.

As she started to fall into sleep, she felt something warm grab at her hand, she looked up and saw Lucas holding her left hand. She smiled up at him. "whats going on in that head of yours?"

---

"can we go see uncle Lucas now?" Jamie asked for the 5th time that morning. He really missed his uncle and was very disappointed he never got to say goodbye.

"buddy I told you, we talked to Peyton and they want to go to lunch." She ruffled his soft blonde hair. Haley couldn't help but laugh a little. Her boy loved his uncle so much. She also loved Lucas and couldn't wait to see his face again.

"yeah, we get to see him in about 2 hours, ok?" Nathan assured him. _Only 2 more hours_ he thought to himself. Yes, he was almost just as eager to see Lucas as Jamie was. This past year has been so rough on the family; it was nice to see that things looked a little brighter.

"ok." Jamie said sadly.

---

"Brooke, what are you doing here?" Chase asked. He was bartending at Tric. Owen had to be somewhere for a couple days so he took over. Surprisingly, Brooke walked in.

"well I don't know, sometimes I come here to get a drink." She shrugged and took a seat at the bar.

"this early in the morning?"

"yeah, I guess so." Her face fell.

"what's going on?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. Whenever he saw her she seemed happy, it was hard seeing her like this. The feelings he had for her made him care.

"nothing really. I just haven't had a drink in a while." She lifted her head, trying to convince him that she was ok. He gave her a skeptical look and she sighed. "do you ever wonder if we made the right choices?" She was talking about the choice to marry Ethan.

He shook his head. "I know I made the wrong choices." He sighed and looked around. No one was around this early so he jumped over the counter and took a seat next to her.

"what do you mean? You've made plenty of the right choices." She turned to face him.

"well I have made some ok choices. But the choices that mattered most, I chose wrong." He looked up and was met with her eyes.

"what would those be?" she asked curiously. She found herself feeling a worried about him; he was a great guy and she didn't want him to feel like this.

"I never fought for you." He looked down in shame. If there was one thing he could take back, one thing that he could do over, he would fight for her. She was the girl of his dreams. After no response he started to stand up.

"wait." She grabbed his forearm as he was about to walk back around the bar. "what do you mean?" she was confused, she thought the letter that she got from him was just words he wanted to say just in case he died. She didn't really think they meant anything.

He turned around. Regret. Sadness. Pain. It was all written on his face. He didn't know any other way to make it go away.

"I meant what I said in that letter, I still love you." His gaze was intense upon hers. "I still want you, I want you to want me." He looked to the side and once he got the courage he looked back at her. "I want it to be me that you want to spend forever with." The last part came out quieter, but passionately.

She didn't know what to say. These things that flew out of his mouth like it was a song, she didn't know if she wanted to hear them, or if it was nothing at all. She thought back to Ethan. He was hardly ever there anymore. Being a doctor meant he had hard hours and that he had a lot of other commitments. She found herself thinking that maybe she made the wrong choice too.

---

She was still waiting for a reply. She looked back up to his eyes and chuckled to herself. He didn't even hear her, he was too lost in thought. She leaned up and brought her lips to his. They met and it took a few seconds for him to kiss back but when he did, it was good. She pulled away and smiled; his eyes were closed.

"like a was saying before..." she rubbed a hand up his chest to his head and ran it through his air. "what's going on in that head of yours?" After he opened his eyes, she lay her head back on his chest.

He thought about it for a minute. Actually he didn't really think about it, he already knew, he just didn't know how to put it into words. "it's still hard for me to believe that you waited this long for me." He said quietly. "I feel like I'm dreaming, and when I wake up, you won't be there." A silent tear fell down his face. He couldn't help but let it fall; it was an emotional time for him, and he felt like he had not strength left. She was the only thing keeping him up.

At that statement she lifted her head off of his chest and leaned on one elbow. She turned her face toward him and met his blue eyes. Her heart broke at the sight of him. He looked so broken, so scared. All she wanted to do was fix it, and she planned to; she had to. She had him back now and she wasn't about to let him slip away.

Without hesitation she moved to straddle him. She took his face in between her hands and kissed him. She wanted him to know this was real, feel this was real. Tears started to sting the back of her eyes. "Lucas, it's real." She whispered when she pulled away and leaned her forehead against his. "it is real, because if it wasn't I would be working my ass off to make it real again." She looked into his eyes again and saw him gaze into hers. She reached her arms up and pulled his head to rest on her chest. "you hear that?"

His hear was placed softly against her heart. It was beating a little faster than normal, but still beating; still real. "my heart wouldn't be beating like this right now if you weren't here. It would be broken, but it's not. It's whole." She lifted his head and made him look at her again. "I told you, you have my heart. You always will have it. That is why I waited." She kissed him on the lips again and let it linger there. "I love you so much, and you need to know that. I will never leave you." The unshed tears finally fell. "I will _never_ leave you." She said firmly and she lay her head on his heart. Almost as if to make sure his was still beating.

"I love you too." He said, just above a whisper. He didn't really know what else to say. He didn't want to say something and then have it ruin the moment. He would give her a speech eventually, but right now he just needed her close to him.

He lifted her head and looked her straight in the eyes before he leaned in and kissed her. It was passionate and full of everything that was missed in their time apart. He pulled away; oxygen was a necessity in this so called world. Their lips were still inches apart. Their breathing was heavy but that didn't stop them from wanting more. She leaned back in and covered his mouth with hers.

They began a make-out session and they didn't plan on stopping for a while. It was about to get more intense when they heard a little cry. They didn't hear it at first, they were too engrossed in their kisses, but then Peyton pulled away when it became louder. He smiled up at her.

"we will continue this later." She reassured him and herself. She patted his chest and climbed off the bed to walk out of the room.

She walked into Grace's room and walked over to her crib. She picked her up and kissed her forehead. "you couldn't have had better timing." She chuckled. Though she desperately wanted Lucas, she still loved this little girl in her arms. "it's a good thing I love you." She tapped her nose.

Lucas stood in the doorway. She still hadn't noticed him so he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed her temple then her cheek and lastly her neck. Her eyes fell closed as she relished in the feel of his lips on her skin. "mmmmm."

"how is my little girl this morning?" he cooed. She said something that could not be interpreted by anyone, but he had a feeling of what she meant. Instead he used this in a different way. "yes I know your mom is beautiful." He nodded, Peyton laughed and leaned further into his chest while leaning her head in the crook of his neck. Grace mumbled something again. "oh yeah, that's a good idea." He smiled.

"I want to know." Peyton pouted.

"nope, sorry, it's a surprise." He smiled and kissed her lips.

_Yeah, it was definitely worth the fight. _Peyton thought to herself. They were on the road back to where they used to be and it couldn't have been going better. Maybe they would even end up somewhere better.

**A/N: sorry for the length again, I kinda enjoyed writing the leyton part though. So what did you think??? Let me know!**

**Oh and for my other fic, the heart will lead you home, that one will be updated very soon. If you would like, I would really like you guys to check that one out. I really love reviews and readers, they helps so much!**


	21. Home

**Please review! I love reviews, they make me feel so much better! I finally turned on anonymous reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned OTH, but I don't. Any song lyrics in here, are not mine, I just think they are a good tool to make writing better.**

**A/N: this is the last chapter =( I'm sorta sad to see it go, I really liked this one. But I don't really know what else to write, so yeah…..**

**Here it is.**

**Home, by Daughtry**

-2 months later…..

"Peyt, will you come somewhere with me?" Lucas asked as he stood from the kitchen table. They didn't have Grace this morning, Brooke took her so Lucas could get _things _sorted out.

Peyton couldn't help but notice a bit of mystery in Lucas today. "of course." She smiled and stood up on her tip toes to give him a kiss.

He gave her a goofy smile after that little kiss. She chuckled. "ok but you have to wear something special." He walked down the hall to their bedroom. She still stood in the kitchen for a few moments, wondering what he was talking about. It wasn't long before she went down the hall to find him.

"why do I nee.." she trailed off when she saw the dress that Lucas was holding out to her. It was a very simple white dress, but it was so beautiful.

"do you like it?" when he got no response he panicked. "I mean if you don't its fine, I'm sure you have another dress." She smiled and stopped his rambling with a chaste kiss.

"I love it." She said honestly, looking the dress up and down. "why do I need a dress anyways?" she asked coyly.

"it's a surprise." At that statement she pulled out the sad eyes and her lower lip stuck out slightly more than her top one. "nope, we are not playing this game today blondie. This is going to be a surprise, and you're going to like it." He paused. "I hope." He was so nervous, what if she didn't like the surprise? What if it was bad timing? They always did have bad timing.

"If you had anything to do with it, I'm sure I'll love it." She reassured him.

He gave her a tender smile and then grabbed his tux to change.

---

"is everything in place?" Brooke walked around frantically.

"Brooke, everything is fine." Chase smiled at her. About a week after Lucas got out of rehab, Brooke broke it off with Ethan. He was never home and she couldn't help but get jealous of all the time he was spending with his lady partner at the hospital. She was lost for a few days, but then Chase showed up and he made it all better.

"thanks, babe." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Grace be careful!" Chase shouted as he ran over to the baby's side. She somehow was on her way down to the river. She was a lot of trouble now that she could walk.

Brooke smiled and watched in awe as Chase handled the Grace. He was so careful and caring with her. It made her love him even more. She couldn't wait till the day came where maybe Chase would be caring for their child.

"thank God!" Brooke was broken from her reverie when the Scott family arrived. "is Jamie all set?" Brooke asked.

"yes Brooke, and we are ready too." Haley chuckled already knowing that Brooke was nervous.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous and excited at the same time." She laughed at herself. "it's just such a relief that Lucas and Peyton are finally going to be together forever." Haley and Nathan nodded knowingly.

---

"Peyt, you almost ready?" Lucas asked anxiously as he waited in their bedroom. He could hardly wait any longer to see her.

"yup." She laughed at his face when he turned to look at her. His eyes were wide and he had a boyish smile on his face.

"damn, my girl is fine." He exclaimed while eyeing her up and down. She looked beautiful. Hell, she looked beautiful to him all the time. Maybe she looked more beautiful right now because he knew how special the day was.

"well my man isn't too bad either." She mused. She couldn't deny it, her man was very good looking. It only added to her love for him.

"well, before we go, you have to put this on." He guiltily said as he held up a white piece of cloth.

"oh, no!" she put her hand out. "you can give me a surprise, but you are not allowed to blindfold me too." She smiled slightly.

"please." He pouted.

"oh come on! Not the eyes!" she fakes pleaded. She could feel herself giving in; his eyes where always his weakness. After all, another person's strength can be another person's weakness. "fine." She huffed.

He smirked at how fast it was for her to give in. "that smirk may have won me over Mr. Scott, but you owe me." She declared.

"oh trust me, I plan on paying you back." He whispered seductively into her ear. Her eyes fell closed and her breath hitched in her throat. Damn. Why did Lucas always have this effect on her?

---

"Lucas are we almost there?" she was becoming very impatient. They had only been driving for 20 minutes, but to her it felt like hours.

"yeah, about 5 more minutes." He smiled to himself, knowing he had her fooled. The place they were headed to was in town, but he just drove around for a while to fool her.

"alright, we are here. But before you take that thing off, I want to tell you something." He began to get nervous again. This time it was more, it was like the butterflies just couldn't stop mating in his stomach; they just kept multiplying.

"okay." She was a little nervous herself, mainly because she had no idea what was going on.

"Peyton, I love you." He said softly. He intertwined his left hand in her right and then reached up with his other hand to stroke her cheek; he just wanted her to know that he was still there. "I know that it hasn't been very easy, the last couple years, but I plan on making it up to you every day. I'm sorry about all the times that I strayed from us, and hurt you, I regret all of that and but I wouldn't take it back. Because what happened in the past, makes us who we are today and I love what we have become, what we have."

---

"ok everyone get in your places, they are here." Brooke said in a whispered tone, she didn't want Peyton to hear them.

Everyone scurried to their places after the news that the couple had arrived.

"why aren't they coming out?" Jamie asked curiously. He knew what his daddy did to his mom sometimes and it made him a little bit nauseous thinking about his uncle Lucas doing that.

"oh well your uncle Luke has a tendency to give long speeches." Haley answered her sons question. The people that heard couldn't help but laugh, they knew Lucas, and they knew that he was a huge speech giver; such a romantic.

---

"I know that you weren't expecting this, and I know it's sudden…." He was cut off by Peyton.

"Lucas, what are you talking about?" she became a little concerned and was about to take of the blindfold, but Lucas was faster and he stopped her.

He laughed a little, man she was impatient, before he continued. "I know its sudden, but I can't wait any longer. I love you too much." He was speaking from his heart. His voice was filled with so much love and tenderness.

"I love you to Luke, I promise." She looked at his face, or at least turned her face towards him, she couldn't really see anything. All the nervousness he had before was gone. He gained confidence and hope; he knew he was doing the right thing.

He smiled and got out of the car. He ran to the other side and helped her out of the car. "ready for your surprise?" he teased.

"yes!" she practically shouted.

He reached behind her head and untied the blindfold. She immediately looked around at her surroundings. She noticed that they were at the Rivercourt and she noticed many of her loved ones sitting over in the white chairs that were set neatly in rows. At the head of the court stood Nathan and Jamie. There was also another unfamiliar man that looked like a priest. There was white cloth that lined the concrete floor in between the sections of chairs. It wasn't long before she began to put the pieces together.

"Peyton Sawyer, will you become my wife today?" he asked softly.

She turned to him and a single tear fell from her eye. "yes baby, I would love to." She mused as she brought her lips to his in a loving kiss. She ignored all the people around her, she didn't really care, she just loved this man so much.

---

She met Brooke at the opposite end of the court as Lucas. She was a little sad when he had to leave her to go up by Nathan, but she knew it wouldn't be long before they were together again.

"Thank you Brooke." She brought her best friend in for a hug.

"anything for you to finally be happy P. Sawyer very soon-to-be Scott." They both chuckled. "are you ready to marry the man of your dreams, the love of your life?" she rasped.

"I think I've been ready for a long time now."

The music started and Brooke walked down the aisle after Haley walked down holding Grace's hand and helping her throw flowers onto the ground.

"are you ready, princess?" her father came up behind her, dressed in a nice black tux.

"daddy!" she had to keep herself from shouting.

"you know I wouldn't miss this day." He assured her and pulled her in for a quick hug before it was their turn.

Peyton was next, and it was her cue to go when the music started. The whole time she walked, her gaze was locked with Lucas'. He was so handsome, and his eyes were like a sweet love song.

He waited anxiously for her, she was almost to him, and he still had not taken his gaze off of her.

"this is it man." Nathan said.

"and she couldn't be more perfect." He mused. Nathan was very happy that his brother finally found his way back to Peyton. After going to war and everything, it was a relief to have everything slow down again, even though the world could never fully stop.

She finally reached him.

"take care of our girl, Lucas." Larry whispered as he handed Peyton over to Lucas.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Lucas assured him. Their gazes were still locked and Larry knew it was time to let go.

They walked hand in hand to the altar, where the priest stood. They held hands and bright smiles invaded both their faces.

When they turned to face each other, tears were in both their eyes. A few had escaped Peyton's but Lucas was there to wipe them away. They each said their 'I do's' they just seemed to roll of the tongue like it was a normal day.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Scott." The priest announced as Lucas finally pulled his lips away from Peyton. They turned to face their loved ones and they walked down the aisle together.

When they got back to Peyton's comet Peyton turned Lucas toward her. "I woke up expecting a normal day with you." She stated. "and then I got this, a perfect day with you." She began to let more tears fall from her eyes. "I love you Lucas Scott." She looked up into his eyes before she leaned up to kiss him. It was very passionate, something that she hasn't let out in a long time.

"I love you too, Peyton Scott." He smirked. "I love saying that, Peyton Scott."

"well don't ware it out now." She turned to walk into the comet, when they were in the car she turned to him. "Peyton Scott…" She said dreamily. "…has a nice ring to it." She smiled and he laughed.

---

"P. Scott!" Brooke shouted as Peyton and Lucas arrived. She ran up to her and gave her a big hug; she didn't exactly get to after the ceremony.

"Brooke, need air." Peyton muttered from Brooke's neck.

"sorry, I'm just so happy for you!"

"I know, and I have you to thank for that happiness." Peyton said honestly and whole heartedly to her friend.

"well, not all of it." Brooke assured her. She walked up to Lucas. "you take care of my P. Sawyer now." She whispered in her hear. When she pulled away he nodded and gave her a reassuring smile.

"yeah, he's a pretty big part of it too." In that moment blue met green and there were no worries. She smiled brightly at him and her smile went from ear to ear.

"we can't forget this one." Chase walked in carrying Grace.

"Hey baby girl!" Lucas immediately took his daughter from Chase. "I missed you." He tickled her and gave her kisses all over her face. She squirmed and giggled.

"well I was talking about me, but I guess she is pretty great too." Chase joked and gave Brooke a charming smile.

"you're not so bad yourself." Brooke mused.

---

I'm staring out into the night,  
Trying to hide the pain.  
I'm going to the place where love  
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.  
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

"you finally did it man." Nathan clapped Lucas on the back of the shoulder.

"yeah, yeah I did." He couldn't take his eyes off of her, she was just radiating all the beauty that he could only dream of.

"you know, just cause you're married now, doesn't mean you get to spend every waking minute with her." He just watched his brother as he stared at his new wife.

---

"so how does it feel to finally tie the knot with the boy you love?" Haley nudged Peyton, trying to get her attention off Lucas.

Well I'm going home,  
Back to the place where I belong,  
And where your love has always been enough for me.  
I'm not running from.  
No, I think you got me all wrong.  
I don't regret this life I chose for me.  
But these places and these faces are getting old,  
So I'm going home.  
Well I'm going home.

"it feels great." She finally tore her gaze from Lucas and looked back. "I can't believe I have a real family now." She said in disbelief.

"well, you better believe it, because this is your family." Haley nodded over to Lucas and Grace who were dancing on the dance floor.

"I believe it." Haley brought her in for a one arm hug. She watched as her man and little girl danced, it was such a perfect picture. She finally got what she wanted and she couldn't be happier. She was silently thankful that the photographer got a picture of the two of them having a father/ daughter moment."you know, I think I finally found my perfect place, my home." They looked at each other and tears were streaming down both faces.

So I'm going home,  
Back to the place where I belong,  
And where your love has always been enough for me.  
I'm not running from.  
No, I think you got me all wrong.  
I don't regret this life I chose for me.  
But these places and these faces are getting old,

"go on." Haley pushed her towards the dance floor.

Be careful what you wish for,  
'Cause you just might get it all.  
You just might get it all,  
And then some you don't want.  
Be careful what you wish for,  
'Cause you just might get it all.  
You just might get it all, yeah.

She turned to Haley and gave her one more bright smile, for the many that were to come, and headed out to her family.

"there she is." Lucas gave Peyton a crooked smile. He was swaying to the music with Grace in his arms.

"I love you both so much." Tears were still falling down her face as she reached them. She fell into Lucas' open arm and she sank into his embrace while wrapping one arm around him and one around her daughter that was in his arms. "you're my family." She leaned up and kissed Lucas on the lips, it lingered for a little bit before she gave Grace a kiss on the cheek.

"and we are very proud of it." They swayed to the music, ignoring everyone around them for a few moments. Peyton was broken from her thoughts when Lucas tugged on her shoulder. "you beautiful girls saved me." He looked her in the eyes and she could tell he was being serious. "I will never forget that." He kissed them both on the forehead and they continued to dance.

Oh, well I'm going home,  
Back to the place where I belong,  
And where your love has always been enough for me.  
I'm not running from.  
No, I think you got me all wrong.  
I don't regret this life I chose for me.  
But these places and these faces are getting old.  
I said these places and these faces are getting old,  
So I'm going home.  
I'm going home.

They finally got their happily ever after. They didn't think it was possible, but here they were, a family. There were no more doubts, no more running from what their love was. Now they were just Lucas and Peyton again; with a fabulous new addition, Grace Scott.

**A/N: so was it a good ending? Please give me one last review, I would really love it! Thanks for being great readers and reviewers!!!! Like seriously, the reviews were awesome and I loved hearing what you had to say about it. Everyone probs says this, but I couldn't have done it without you, seriously. **

**P.S. I still have another fic! And I know that I'm a bad updater, but I did start another one, but I'm debating whether to post it or not yet……should I post it? And if I post it will you read it??**

**EM**


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